By Alex Beard

6th Feb, 2020 | 8:46pm

Phil Hay reveals name of ex Leeds player Bielsa surprisingly mentioned during fiery Thurs rant

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa’s fiery pre match press conference on Thursday touched on a whole host of different subjects.

From an outburst against former striker Eddie Nketiah to reflections on the team’s current poor form, the Argentine was in rare form in front of the media.

We’ve witnessed these sort of enigmatic press conferences from the Whites boss a few times now, but they never fail to disappoint.

However, there was one person who will have been surprised to hear that his name came up during the manager’s tirade.

The Athletic journalist Phil Hay was present at the press conference, and he provided the name of the individual.

“The impression you get from Bielsa is that he resents the fact that he’s been questioned so much about his management of Nketiah and others ([Jean-Kevin] Augustin the latest),” he wrote on his personal Twitter account.

“Lewis Baker got a mention in the middle of it all. Very animated about it,” he finished.

Baker is the man in question, of course. He’s somebody who wouldn’t have expected his name to come out of Bielsa’s mouth this season.

The 24-year-old spend the first half of the last campaign on loan at Elland Road from Premier League heavyweights Chelsea.

He played 14 times under Bielsa, but only started two games in the league before returning to Stamford Bridge and making a swift turnaround to join Reading.

He’s really got no connection to Leeds anymore. He likely served as an example of a point Bielsa was making, which perhaps demonstrates the extent to which the manager’s nerves are frayed right now.

Baker was somebody else who, like Nketiah, was expected to get more football than he did under Bielsa. The parent club in both cases decided to recall their player in January.

In other Leeds United news, a former White defender has had his say on a ‘strange’ decision made by Bielsa recently.