‘Costa’s our gold blend’
MARCELO BIELSA hopes the “Costa Express” will provide an ideal promotion blend for Leeds this season.
Bielsa’s side suffered play-off heartache in May when they reached the Championship play-offs – only to crumble in the semi-final second leg against Derby County.
Now the Argentinian is back for another crack at taking Leeds into the Premier League.
And he has signed a player who has been there before and done it – Helder Costa, who has arrived on loan at Elland Road from Wolves with a view to a permanent move next summer.
Costa, 25, was part of the Wolves side that romped away to win the Championship by nine points to win promotion.
Now he is back in the second tier and Leeds midfielder Mat Klich reckons he could be the missing piece of the jigsaw for Bielsa ahead of today’s opener at Bristol City.
Costa – once Wolves’ record signing at £13million – agreed a four-year deal with Leeds last month.
Poland international Klich said: “I can’t wait to play with Helder, to be fair.
“He’s a great player. He does the thing we missed last season – he dribbles, a lot.
“I know Marcelo likes players who can dribble – and Helder is that kind of player.
“So he’s going to help us 100 per cent.”
Klich says the Leeds players were better prepared for Bielsa’s hard
HIS controversial first season in England was a valuable lesson for Marcelo Bielsa. The Leeds manager (right) said: “The Championship is very honest and competitive.” He was at the centre of the Derby “Spygate” controversy and said: “I took note of my mistake.” But his fair play took over as he gifted Aston Villa a goal after
Leeds scored when Dean Smith’s side thought the ball was being put out of
play.
line pre-season training methods this year.
But with suggestions the squad might be short on key players this time around, Bielsa has made it clear people will have to be prepared to be versatile.
Bielsa said: “We have three players for each position, but we don’t have 33 players!”
Klich is prepared to take on new roles – with some exceptions. He smiled: “I would rather not play as a winger! But I think it’s better for the team.
“I think I’ll be staying in the middle.”
Klich took some encouragement from a season that ultimately ended in despair.
He scored 10 goals, a season’s best – but is not promising the same this time.
Klich added: “I don’t expect to score 10, we’ll see. I’d love to do it, but it was a great season – though we didn’t finish well.
“But, for me, it was the best season of my life. That was a very good achievement for me.”
But he says he will not be putting himself up for penalty kicks as a way to boost his tally. He added: “It should be the manager telling us who to take the penalties – we won’t be fighting for the ball like in kindergarten.”
But one of the main talking points of Bielsa’s squad this season is that it may lack depth.
That may be the case, with suggestions that striker Kemar Roofe may join Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht, which would not go down well with fans.