Craig Scott

Tue 1 February 2022 20:10, UK

Phil Hay has asked the question of whether or not Marcelo Bielsa will still be in charge of Leeds United next season.

Since his arrival at Elland Road in 2018, Bielsa has only agreed contracts one year at a time and each year, he’s overseen an improvement in results and the club’s fortunes.

However, it looks as though the Whites are going to end up lower this season than last season’s ninth-placed Premier League finish.

Injuries have played a massive issue in that but so has the lack of squad depth, something for which Bielsa is mainly at fault.

The Athletic journalist Hay feels there are a lot of questions to be asked at the end of this summer and one of them is whether or not Bielsa will still be at the reins at Elland Road.

“Come the summer, there needs to be a fresh look and several big decisions made. They certainly can’t plough on with the squad as it is,” said Hay in the comments section on The Athletic website on Tuesday (1 February).

“Does Bielsa stay with an enhanced group of players? Do they bring in a new coach to facilitate wider changes? Do the 49ers up their stake again or go further? There’s a hell of a lot to think about when the season ends.”

Hay added: “A coach on a one year contract doesn’t make it easy to plan long term and very few clubs would go through the routine of extensions every summer.

“But then again, there’s a lot about Bielsa which is unlike other coaches. When you recruit him, you go with the whole package.

“At the end of this season, more thought has to be given to what happens next.

“How do they avoid this season repeating itself? It’s a big question to answer.”

Time for a change?

Disclaimer: This is not us calling for Bielsa to leave Leeds, it is merely us thinking out loud on whether or not the Argentine needs to stay.

Some Leeds fans get very touchy when Bielsa’s future is talked about, mainly because he’s done a very good job at Elland Road.

And that’s fair enough, he’s a modern-day legend in West Yorkshire, taking Leeds back to the Premier League and in his first season in the top-flight, securing a superb ninth-placed finish.

However, there was a Leeds before Bielsa and there will be one after him. And you have to remember, it was Victor Orta and Andrea Radrizzani who brought Bielsa to Leeds. If they can pull off a masterstroke like that once, they can do it again.

Bielsa has a very unique way of doing things and you feel as though his influence at Leeds will change the way the club is run for a very long time, whether it be with Radrizzani as owner or the San Francisco 49ers.

However, there are drawbacks to every spot of greatness and one of them is his insistence upon having a small squad and acting as though a group of inexperienced teenagers are an extension of his senior team.

Leeds United should try to move away from that ethos at some point and you feel as though the foundations are already in place for the next big step in the club’s future.

But if Bielsa does stay on one more year and one more year after that, we’re not in a position to complain based on all he’s done for this football club.

In other Leeds United news, the Whites made a last-gasp move to sign a long-serving Chelsea player before the January window closed.