The luxury that only Bielsa can set as a condition: working with a boss with whom you feel comfortable

Marcelo Bielsa is about to come out of inactivity. The former national manager, who left the bench at Leeds United in February after his meager Premier League campaign, speaks, strictly speaking, as if his return to Athletic Bilbao is already a done deal. “This team has the ability to evolve.” he diagnoses, in a video in which he announces his imminent arrival in San Mamés. “We have made an analysis of the 45 games of the 21/22 season. For me, it is a very big responsibility to lead Athletic, ”he develops, reporting on the detailed examination he made of the workforce of the club. And much further: he also reviewed the human material available to Bilbao Athletic, the subsidiary which plays in the second division B, and Basconia, the second team linked to the institution, which plays in group IV of the third division .

However, for Bielsa’s return to materialize, a key diligence is missing. This Friday the elections will be held in the club and the arrival of the Loco is subject to a specific factor: the election of Iñaki Arechabaleta as the new president of the Bilbao entity. “It’s a huge responsibility to lead a team like Athletic, and even more so for me, having been there before and I know what it’s all about. “, declares the strategist, anticipating a favorable result in the elections. “PFrom what I have seen, it is very necessary to enter Europe, if this has not been achieved it is not for lack of ambition, there are resources to achieve this. Sometimes players are unaware of the virtues they possess », he encourages himself to affirm.

It is not the first time that Bielsa’s professional future has been linked to the political events of an institution. Chile is a good example of this situation. In February 2011, the whole country was paralyzed listening to the press conference in which he announced that he would not continue to command the national team, in which he had forged a new style, which deserves national idol status. that he still has. At that time, El Loco felt uncomfortable with Sergio Jadue as boss, no matter how distant he felt from an entire system that seemed rarefied to him. The Calerano had taken the head of the ANFP, after the impossibility of the position occupied by Jorge Segovia. The Rosario never liked the principles that inspired this management and decided to leave, even though the popular capital he had brought closer had brought him too close to the label of indisputable .

“Sergio Jadue he acted so that I understood that I should not trust him “, he revealed during the memorable press conference in which he made known his determination. “The day we met for the first time I said to him ‘I don’t know you and these days when we will surely interact, I will necessarily observe how you proceed, in the same way that I proceed, you have more advantage, because you know more about me than I know about you “, he expressed. This time he attempted to expose a plot to damage his public image, perhaps the legacy he was most interested in tending to at the time. One of the factors that affected him the most was the revelation of the terms of his contract, and the millionaire amounts at stake, in the context of a society that followed him into a reality opposite to that enjoyed by the main footballers.

The trans-Andean had arrived in 2007 at the hands of Harold Mayne Nicholls, who had just lost the election at the head of Chilean football. Without the former FIFA official up front, Bielsa felt there were no more elements that would guarantee him the conditions to extend his work in the country. .

Bielsa’s career is plagued with situations in which confidence in an institutional project has determined his decisions. In Mexico, for example, he also allowed himself the luxury of abandoning the sports projects he was carrying out both in Atlas and in America when he felt he did not have the support he needed. to continue to develop his ideas, which often transcend immediate sporting results. , such as those demanded by large millionaire clubs, as in the case of the Eagles . Even so, his work transcended, to the point that he was mentioned as a candidate for the Aztec team, a proposal he declined.

De Vélez Sarsfield also left embroiled in the controversy. He had signed for a season, in which he left a title as a legacy, but the cost was too high: the relationship with his players has become so strained that with some referents, such as José Luis Chilavert, he has barely exchanged words . Again, he chose to leave.

At Espanyol, he managed in just six games and left. This time, the reason was different, but just as powerful: he had been offered the Argentine national team, no doubt the crystallization of all his desires. From Lazio, Italy, with whom he had an agreement to work together, He left two days after reaching an agreement because the Roman club had not signed any of the players he had requested . Once again, he preferred to leave aside a job that did not generate peace of mind.

In France, there were two stages. A success, at Olympique de Marseille, which also ended due to an act that aroused mistrust: without any justification, the club intended to reduce the wages of its employees by 10%. Bielsa chose to leave. In Lille, he carried out a campaign to be forgotten. In November 2007, the situation collapsed: Bielsa traveled to Chile to see Luis Bonini, his right-hand man in La Roja, who was hospitalized for the disease which ended up costing him his life. The French club dismissed him accusing him of serious misconduct, despite the meager sporting results. The relationship ended in court, with the coach ordered to pay 300,000 euros. Justice had considered the claim by which he intended to collect 18.5 million of the community currency as excessive compensation.