LEEDS GO LOCO FOR MARCELO
New boss Bielsa can go on £20m spree to turn club into contenders
MARCELO BIELSA will be handed a warchest of up to £20million to turn Leeds into promotion contenders.
Bielsa has finally been confirmed as head coach, becoming the Championship club’s highest-ever paid boss on over £2million a year.
Owner and chairman Andrea Radrizzani is determined to bankroll a promotion bid next season and has also promised him Leeds’ biggest transfer kitty since their Premier League days. The former Argentina, Chile and Marseille boss will be given £10m raised by the sale of shares to the owners of the San Francisco 49ers NFL team. And Radrizzani will add cash held in reserve for a promotion tilt.
Transfer targets have already been discussed with Bielsa.
They want Derby’s top scorer Matej Vydra, ex-Hull striker Abel Hernandez, who is a free agent, and Manchester City keeper Angus Gunn.
Bielsa has agreed a two-year deal with the option of a third to succeed Paul Heckingbottom.
The Argentine said: “I am delighted to accept the role of head coach at Leeds. It has always been my ambition to work in England and I have had several opportunities to do so. “However, I have felt it was important to wait for the right project to come along and so when a club with Leeds United’s history made me an offer, it was impossible to turn down.” Bielsa is nicknamed ‘El Loco’ – the crazy one – for his exploits during his career. When he quit the Argentina job in 2004, he spent three months in a convent without a television or telephone – and just read books on football.
He is Leeds’ highestprofile appointment since Terry Venables in 2002 and is a real statement of intent by Radrizzani after the club went backwards during his first full season in charge.
The Italian said: “Marcelo is a coach I have admired for many years and we made him our top priority this summer. He has a wealth of experience and he will use that to create a new culture and a winning mentality at our football club.”