Phil Hay has been giving an insight into Marcelo Bielsa’s translator who’s been with him throughout their Premier League adventure.
Ever since he arrived at Leeds, Marcelo Bielsa has been using a translator, but the one he has now has been an ever-present in the Premier League – Andres Clavijo will be a familiar face to Leeds fans and the media.
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While Bielsa can be very extravagant with what he says and does – having put together a huge PowerPoint presentation for the media following ‘Spygate’ and also having confirmed that as many as 10 players wanted to leave the club in January – Clavijo is said to be a man who likes to keep himself to himself.
Hay offered an interesting delve into what Clavijo is like as a person and also how he managed to get his current job while speaking on The Phil Hay Show.
“From what I know, I don’t know a huge amount about Andres and he keeps himself to himself as they all do – but a very, very nice guy and I think actually has done a good job of translating for Bielsa because that is a tough, tough job.
“[He’s of] Colombian descent originally. Someone said to me he’s an Arsenal fan actually, but massively into his football; very, very big into Bielsa, and I think was doing essentially intern work for Bielsa beforehand in the way that people do, they chance their arm with him – and it’s worth chancing your arm, because quite often it does lead to a job.”
TIF Thoughts on Andres Clavijo…
It will definitely be one of the toughest jobs in football having to get Bielsa’s message across accurately as he’s very detailed and precise in what he says.
Patrick Bamford has revealed during an interview that Clavijo is more than just a translator and has a good relationship with the squad, letting them know when Bielsa is in a bad mood prior to meetings.
Back in 2020, Bielsa appeared to take issue with his translator for giving a loose translation and thus highlighting how intense and perfect Clavijo has to be, so as Hay suggested, he really must admire the Argentine manager to put up with him.
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