Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips says that Marcelo Bielsa is the ‘best manager in the world’ after guiding the club to promotion back to the Premier League this season.
Bielsa took over at Elland Road in the summer of 2018, just after the Whites had finished 13th in the Championship, and almost took them to promotion in his first season with the club, agonisingly missing out in the play-offs.
This time around however, there was to be no such disappointment for the Whites, with West Brom’s 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield confirming Leeds’ promotion back to the top-flight of English football after 16 years away.
A homegrown Leeds player, Phillips was always going to enjoy a moment such as this, and it seems he feels much of the credit for this success goes to Bielsa himself.
Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds after promotion had been made official, the midfielder said: “It’s crazy. I never thought when the manager first came in, I never thought I’d be in this position two years down the line.
“The manager is a massive part of that, the coaching staff is a massive part of that. He’s the best manager in the world, there’s no other manager I’d rather play under than Marcelo Bielsa right now.
“He’s the perfect manager to have. I’m just lost for words, I can’t really speak.”