Leeds United reporter Phil Hay has been speaking on The Athletic Football Podcast to discuss all things Leeds United with a trip to Newcastle United coming up.
Discussing the future of Marcelo Bielsa, the Leeds correspondent shed some light on the Argentine’s future having extended his stay with the Whites by another year.
Do you think Bielsa will extend his stay at Leeds?
Yes
No
Having joined Leeds back in 2018, Bielsa was out of contract at Elland Road at the end of the 2020/21 campaign but has committed his short-term future to Leeds leaving next season something of a mystery. Bielsa does not have a history of staying in club managerial roles for very long which only adds to the speculation surrounding what will happen when this one-year deal expires.
Discussing the matter, Hay had the following to say on what he understands to be the case at Elland Road regarding the club’s stance with Bielsa (33:27):
“It’s a rolling situation in the sense that, for as long as it’s going well under him and he wants to stick around and stay as head coach, there’s going to be very little justification for replacing him. And it will be very hard for the club to explain that decision.
“I think if they were to have a fairly mediocre season this year, if it was all to be a bit difficult if it wasn’t to go too well, hen perhaps you move into the realms of wondering whether it will be time to change it or whether both sides might agree that that was the case.”
TIF Thoughts on Bielsa’s future…
We are keen to see what Bielsa chooses to do after the conclusion of this season. It will be interesting to see if the Argentine feels that he has done as much as he wants with the club or if he wants to continue his project with the Whites.
One thing which we are certain of is we think the club will have a huge task at hand when the time comes to replace the 66-year-old.
Bielsa was the man to finally get the Whites back into the Premier League, but off the field as well he has also formed a close bond with the Leeds community and whoever takes on that role, whenever it might be, will certainly have some big shoes to fill.
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