Marcelo Bielsa has added to the anxiety brimming at Elland Road, as the boss has refused to go on record that he will be at the helm next season, in quotes reported by the Mirror.
The Argentine was asked for an update on his Whites future ahead of tomorrow’s promotion defining clash with Aston Villa, but refused to state that he would continue on as our head coach if we failed to earn top-tier football.
Only the club can execute the break clause in his two-year, £3.4million-a-season contract – as claimed by the Mirror – however, so Bielsa would have to request that Victor Orta tears up his deal in order for him to walk away in the summer.
Doing so, though, remains a possibility with two games left to play of the regular season.
“It’s not up to me and I don’t have any response to that,” he told the media during the week. “It’s not a decision that we have to take now, and it’s not the right time to give my opinion on it.”
He did, however, give his opinion on another aspect focusing on next season, with claims that could prove to stretch beyond his tenure at the helm, and certainly focused on things beyond his primary goal in West Yorkshire.
“The only feeling I have towards our players is respect and consideration,” Bielsa added, as quoted by the Yorkshire Evening Post. “The game that decided our fate was the game we lost at home to Wigan.
“In that game, we had 15 chances to score and we had more than 70 per cent of possession, so the final result was a decision of God, not mine. But I know that what I’m saying, people will repeat sarcastically.
“Remember what I say now because you’ll be able to verify it. You won’t find a single player in our team who would be able to reproduce the same level of performance in another season because we’ve been very demanding with them.
“They’ve given everything, and they have figures I’m checking all the time which show what I’m saying is true. The players won’t be able to reproduce the levels they have shown in another season.”
His words should act as a fierce warning to the squad at Thorpe Arch as they prepare to face Villa on Sunday, as losing the game will set our course for the Play-Offs.
They should also act as a worrying warning to the Elland Road faithful, as it sounds an awful lot like he would be willing to walk away if we are not a side destined for the Premier League come the end of May.