Leeds United have never made an approach for Diego Martinez to replace Marcelo Bielsa

Leeds United have not contacted Spanish manager Diego Martinez to replace Marcelo Bielsa at the helm, according to Claudio Mauri.

In November 2021, Super Deporte reported that Victor Orta had approached Martinez as the club have identified him to be Bielsa's successor.

However, Mauri, a respected journalist at Argentine publication La Nacion, believes that those reports are "all smoke" and there's no truth to them.

He wrote, via his personal Twitter account, "All smoke. Neither Raphinha is going to leave in January for Bayern Munich nor did they communicate with the Spanish manager Diego Martinez as a possible replacement for Bielsa."

There goes nothing

For the first time in his Leeds tenure, Bielsa actually appears to be nearing his exit.

He signs one-year rolling deals so there are no guarantees about what his plans are at the end of a season.

This one, by far, has been the toughest, and maybe he feels that he's taken this team as far as he could.

That said, Martinez was someone who was touted as his replacement, but those claims appear to be fabricated.

That's actually a relief for most Leeds fans as they would like to see someone with the knack of winning things who can help take the club to the next level.

Ideally, they would like Bielsa to stay at least until the end of next season, but there's no saying what he might have in mind.

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