Marcelo Bielsa is a man who will forever be adored by every Leeds United supporter after his period in charge as manager at Elland Road.
The Argentine transformed the club on the pitch, with his relentless pressing game allowing the fanbase to fall back in love with the side after years of discontent under various other managers.
However, Bielsa largely worked with the same squad that was at the club upon his arrival back in 2018, only making subtle changes, but implementing a style very few sides could live with.
They may have narrowly missed out on promotion during his debut campaign at the helm, but his men would go one better the following season and secure their long-awaited return to the Premier League.
The 69-year-old was sacked in February 2022, with the Whites now featuring in the Championship once more – but current boss Daniel Farke will be hoping that he can secure promotion at the second attempt, as Bielsa did, potentially relying on one player to provide the goods in attacking areas.
Joel Piroe’s stats at Leeds United
After relegation back to England’s second tier for the start of the 2023/24 campaign, it was crucial that Farke recruited well to give himself the best chance of securing Leeds an immediate return to the Premier League.
As a result, he decided to fork out a fee in the region of £10m for Joel Piroe, hoping that he could replicate his goalscoring figures from his time at Swansea City, which saw him register 20-plus goals in both his full seasons in South Wales.
The 25-year-old would notch an impressive tally of 14 goals in his first year at Elland Road, but ultimately wasn’t enough to secure promotion, as the Whites lost to Southampton in the play-off final at Wembley.
Piroe had remained a key player in Farke’s side this time around, featuring in every match so far, scoring five times – making him the club’s leading goalscorer so far this campaign.
Despite his impressive goalscoring record for the club, the forward has often come under fire from the supporters, with many unhappy with his performances of late, including his display in the defeat against Millwall last night where they failed to find the net.
The 25-year-old may have cost a hefty sum, but his weekly wages are among the cheapest in the current squad.
They just so happen to be cheaper than one of their biggest flops of the Bielsa-era too.
Leeds wasted money on Victor Orta signing
During the summer of 2019, Bielsa wanted to improve his squad to aid his promotion push, signing winger Helder Costa on a season-long loan, before becoming permanent the following summer.
The winger joined on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, registering 43 league appearances during the promotion-winning campaign, registering a combined eight goal contributions in the process.
Leeds paid £16m for his signature after promotion to the top-flight, only making 22 league appearances that season – a year that would be his final one as a first-team member in Yorkshire.
Rodrigo
Valencia
£27m
Jean-Kevin Augustin
RB Leipzig
£20m
Diego Llorente
Real Sociedad
£18m
Raphinha
Stade Rennais
£17m
Helder Costa
Wolves
£16m
Robin Koch
Freiberg
£12m
Illan Meslier
Lorient
£5m
Joe Gelhardt
Wigan Athletic
£1m
Costa would subsequently spend various loan spells at Valencia and Al Ittihad, before having his contract terminated in October 2023 – in what was an all-round shocking deal for the club.
The 30-year-old earned £32k-per-week during his two full campaigns with the club, earning a total of £3.4m which, when combined with his huge transfer fee, saw the hierarchy spend £19.4m on the Angolan.
His subsequent wage is over two times higher than current first-team member Piroe, who only earns around £15k-per-week despite his big-money transfer last summer.
Costa only made 71 appearances for the Whites in all competitions, which saw him cost around £275k-per-game he played – undoubtedly going down as one of the club’s worst pieces of business in recent years.
Terminating his contract 12 months ago was the right call, preventing him from costing the club unnecessary wages and potentially burning a hole in the financial department.
He’s only just found himself a new club, failing to score in his first five appearances for Portuguese side Estoril – further highlighting that offloading the floor was the best thing to do given his high wages and lack of tangible impact.
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