Having Marcelo Bielsa as your manager is something of a double-edged sword.

On one hand, he’s been lauded as the greatest coach in the world, and he can be absolutely brilliant, just look at Leeds’ promotion this season as a prime example.

However, the brilliance doesn’t often last long as the Argentine is often unwilling to stick around at a club, never staying anywhere for more than three years in his career so far, and actually developing a knack of leaving jobs prematurely, ditching Lazio after just two days and leaving Marseille after the first game of his second season.

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He’s only ever signed one-year deals at Leeds, so the concern has been there that he would leave, and this week we learned of United’s plans for if the worst-case scenario had occurred.

What’s been said then?

We’re at that time of year where Bielsa’s contract needs extending once again, and understandably this has been a point of discussion amongst the fanbase.

Phil Hay spoke on this matter on his podcast this week, and when doing so he spoke about United’s plan for if he walked away last term.

“I was told of two of the names of the list to replace him if he had gone. Because Leeds had to do a bit of due diligence, they had to pre-empt the possibility that he’d turn up one day and say ‘look I’ve had enough, I’m going back to Buenos Aires, thank you and goodbye.” He said (The Phil Hay Show 24/6/20 36:00)

“So two of the names on there were (Aitor) Karanka and (Slavisa) Jokanovic. Jokanovic had obviously gone up with Fulham and Karanka had gone up with Middlesbrough.”

Step down

Make no mistake, Karanka and Jokanovic are incredibly talented managers at this level, with three promotions between them, but you can’t help but feel this would be a drop in ambition compared to where Leeds were around the time Bielsa was appointed.

It’s not just about appointing Bielsa at that time, it’s the managers they were in the market for.

Claudio Ranieri was spoken to before Bielsa’s appointment, while Andrea Radrizzani has also stated that Leeds wanted Antonio Conte around that time.

Going from targeting someone touted as the best coach and two Premier League winners to two gaffers who aren’t quite at that level is a drop in ambition, and we can only hope that when Bielsa does leave, Leeds go for someone with a more impressive CV.