Hoping for a great result on Sunday and it looks like Cody Drameh will be given his first Premier League start, as he was missing from the Salford game. Also looks like Summerville will be on the bench along with Cresswell and Hjelde. We are away at Man Utd this evening so lets see what the team looks like. Lots of opinions from fans this last couple of weeks about Bielsa and should we get rid of him. Radz came out on Tuesday and defended him and also said we have total faith and commitment to Marcelo and we will always be very close to him, whatever happens when he decides to leave us, he will never be far away from us. Bielsa has come out and spoken about a couple of players who have also been in some fans firing line: On Rodrigo “Rodrigo is a vital player for us. The obligation of all of us that are part of this group, is to manage to get him to be able to do everything he is capable of doing. On Struijk “It’s important we manage to see the richness that he has, football wise. “He’s a player who has the solutions to the problem of the game without anyone indicating them to him. “He’s a player who has very important conditions,” saidthe head coach. “He’s a clear exponent of the type of centre-backs that the Dutch create. It’s not difficult for him to play in front of the centre-backs as a defensive midfielder. He did so very well against Wolverhampton. When he plays on the left side of a back three he has to go out wide, and he doesn’t suffer. He has a great aerial game and he manages his right foot very well. The quality of the opposition must be noted but even so, Struijk was simply stellar on Sunday. Playing on the left of a back three he wasn’t quite flawless but there were so many good things to highlight in just one player’s performance.He reacted quickly to snuff out offensive threats, halting Ozan Kabak twice early on and winning all five of his tackles across the 90 minutes. “He gave Josh Sargent a difficult time and used his considerable frame to good advantage more than once. What has Bielsa done for Leeds Utd? Well Radz in the same Tuesday interview also said the value of the club has now quadrupled and worth £400m now. So when you look at assets which includes players, all of a sudden we see what has happened to player values since Bielsa arrived: Pascal Struijk must now be worth at least £20m and he cost us £50k so a massive profit. Joffy will cost us £1.4m in add-ons but is already worth £15m so another huge profit Drameh and Summerville are both worth at least £10m each and cost us around £1m each Cresswell cost us nothing and is worth at least £15m already. When the time comes we will also see large profits on Ayling Cooper, Dallas and Klich. We should get a decent profit on Roberts too as he could be a decent buy for Championship team so anything over £4m is a profit. Shaks is another one who cost us nothing but will give us a profit. Imagine the price of Meslier if we sold him, another huge profit. Lets be serious here because the player profits are all because Bielsa has improved players and brought kids on. Raphinha is now worth around £70m so again massive profit, Phillips worth £80m and he was free so massive profit, Llorente will have doubled his price as clubs see how he reads the game and distributes the ball. Not only as Biellsa won us promotion and kept us in the big time, he has increased the value of the squad exponentially. Wonder if Conte will do the same...... guess not Players who dont seem to have improved their value as yet are Forshaw who has been injured for 2 years, Koch who so far has been injured constantly and Rodrigo who divides opinion but Bielsa is the only one who counts, and waiting in the wings are Sam Greenwood, Lewis Bate, Amari Miller, Leo Hjelde, Sean McGurk plus some of our own home grown kids who are starting to shine,Max Dean as an example. So when the players value rocket so too does the club valuation. We saw the value of the club double when Radz bought the ground. So his initial £50m purchase doubled to £100m when he spent £20m of his own cash buying back ER. A very shrewd bit of business that because it also ensured the GFH grabbers saw no increase in their debenture, and Radz could finally get of them At Stamford Bridge a few days ago coaches from around the world were having a conference. Victor Orta put on a presentation on recruitment, here is some of what he said: The director of football explained that Bielsa knows what kind of player he wants to sign. The Argentine has a clear vision for his team, while Orta too has a clear idea about the style of football Leeds want to implement. “It’s really easy to work with Marcelo Bielsa. I know you are expecting the other headline about the relationship and the rumours, but it is absolutely not true,” Orta said at StatsBomb Conference 2021 held at Stamford Bridge. “For me, one of things about Marcelo is easy to work with, is he knows what kind of player he wants. “He knows what kind of player he can take performance. He knows what is the style of player we need and, for me, this is one of the circumstances in my career was really clear about the style of football we are practising and the style of football Marcelo wants for individual players in individual roles.” Big summer ahead Diego Martinez has apparently moved to England and is learning English. There is a view out there that Martinez already knows he is Bielsas replacement if Bielsa leaves at the end of the season : “However, if he does decide to call it a day at Leeds this summer, Martinez would be a fantastic option to replace him Plenty admire the Spaniard’s determination in moving to England, and he’s clearly committed to becoming a success in the Premier League. Martinez worked miracles at Granada, taking them from the Spanish second division into La Liga, where he achieved consecutive top-half finishes. Amazingly, he also led Granada to the Copa del Rey semi-final, and the quarter-final of the Europa League where he was beaten by Manchester United. Martinez is a bright, young coach, with a track record which should excite Leeds fans if he does end up replacing Bielsa one day” Diego Martinez left Granada at the top of his game after working miracles. He decided to leave and walked away but has spent his time watching premier league games and learning English why.? He has a lot in common with Bielsa as he retired from pro football at the young age of 20 and went into coaching, working his way through youth and every age group until he took over the first team and has never looked back. Plenty of offers from La Liga clubs but he has taken a sabbatical
Why would Martinez walk away from La Liga when so many clubs were chasing him? Has he already been approached by Bielsa and Orta? Or is he just busking it which is an expensive exercise to move your family to England and just watch prem football. Be interesting to see if the likes of Smyth, Urquart or Hay have seen him at TA watching Bielsa put on sessions? Or is this just another clickbait story?
I don't know anything about him Doc, but from what you've said he sounds like a perfect fit. Just can't bear the thought of losing El Loco so soon as next summer. Maybe we should take him on as Bielsa's interpreter for the first year and bed him in slowly !
Diego Martinez was manager of Sevilla Atletico, sevillas B team. He also was part of Unai Emerys staff when he was at Sevilla Victor Orta was also there at the same time. Coincidence? I'm sure he can afford to take a year out, didn't Pep do the same when he left barca?
Good shout Este, are there any stories backing this up over there? Also we know Orta and Bielsa put a list of replacements together a year ago and he has been here longer than anywhere else. Its conceivable that he has already agreed his exit and his successor I suppose?
Rodrigo selected for Spain World Cup squad again On the 49ers ownership the actual shareholding was 37% so have increased their shareholding by 7% not the 14% I mentioned earlier, so how much did they pay. Based upon a £300m valuation you would expect to pay £21m. If Radz valuation of £400m is correct you would expect to pay £28m but I suspect that there will have been an agreed future share price between Radz and the yanks
I’ll be honest, I’m bored of Bielsa telling us how good Rodrigo is. He knows Rodrigo is underperforming, in comparison he doesn’t have to tell us how good Raphinha is because we all see it… It feels like it’s a case of tell the fans enough times and they’ll start to believe it. I don’t think he is the worst in the team, just bang average and he hasn’t justified his price tag. Diego Martinez - I had to Google him but then I had to Google Bielsa too, we’ll have to wait and see. I do think we’re getting very near to the stage where Bielsa needs to decide and to let us know his intentions a bit sooner than he has been. 49ers I’m not sure how I feel on that one, Americans haven’t proved to be great owners over the years, they’re obviously going to eventually have a controlling stake, I’d prefer to have dreamed of having an oil Arab buying us and investing £300m on players
If I was Martinez, & I knew that I was taking over at Leeds, I would expect to be paid a retainer to keep myself available. Promises are nothing in football without a contract. Anything can change at any time. This looks like another 2+2=22 story.
must have read my bit and rewritten it… https://www.footballtransfertavern....artinez-would-love-to-replace-marcelo-bielsa/
Speaking personally I don’t want any Arabs anywhere near our club I can’t be bought If they bring fuel down to 25p per litre I may reconsider my position
A theory based on no inside knowledge whatsoever (just like most journos anyway) Radz realises we could be in a relegation battle, not good for the club or his investment. Needs to raise cash to buy in January. January market probably not as bad as most years as a lot of clubs are skint, especially the ones on the continent. Sell another stake to the yanks, radz still owns more than 50% Go out and buy a class AM. Isco is unwanted at Real Madrid, out of contract at the end of the year, could go for free in Jan, they need to free up wages to pay for M'bappe, just have to pay his probably high wages. Feel free to shoot the messenger .
Bielsa was today asked about Bogusz and basically said that he is playing at a high level in a tough league. He is being analysed weekly and his performances monitored. He plays at a very high standard for his club and for his country. He said decisions will be made when they need to be made. Does that mean he and Forshaw will be n amongst the squad for that AM position, or do we think he will be sold?
I've been vocal on Rodrigo as a midfielder. He doesn't have the mindset defensively and sees problems too late to nullify them. As for Rodrigo going forwards he makes some very unselfish intelligent runs that creates space for others. He also likes to run in behind which is a nightmare as a defender. I rate him but feel we probably overpaid for him. That's not his fault though.
Louis Enrique said today that Bielsa and him see Rodrigo in different roles as Enrique wants him as a 9 or out wide coming in
Louis Enrique said today that Bielsa and him see Rodrigo in different roles as Enrique wants him as a 9 or out wide coming in
Leeds V Leicester my personal view is that the fans and the club are owed goals from Harrison, Klich, James and they may get a chance to repay us all on Sunday I also think Rodrigo will score again, but there are a few players who owe the fans
