Superstar Lionel Messi is on record as declaring that he’d love to play for Marcelo Bielsa. In this blogger’s humble opinion, his recent plea for El Loco to join him on the Nou Camp stage at Barcelona was the wrong way to go about fulfilling that desire to experience the guidance of the man they call the best coach in the world. Messi should be looking at the reverse proposition, and consider the prospect of doing for Leeds United what Diego Maradona did for Napoli many years ago.
It’s always tempting in these cases to add together two and two, ending up with 1919 or so. When the signs align as they appear to do in this case, it’s hard not to clutch at a passing straw and reach a highly desirable conclusion. But there is that precedent involving Diego Maradona, a man who coincidentally figured in an even more outrageously unlikely rumour back in the dark days of pre-Wilko United’s second division tenture in the eighties. Then, affable MD Bill Fotherby was telling everyone who would listen that this deal could be done, and you began to understand how this plausible man had succeeded in life. It didn’t happen, of course, but Maradona did eventually make a move from his storied career at the Nou Camp to a Napoli outfit that had seen no Serie A success in far too long. The rest is history, Maradona proved to be the magic ingredient in the revival of the Naples club. He was also destined to feature briefly for Newell’s Old Boys later in his career, a club of significance to any student of Bielsaball.
So, could history repeat itself? It’s unlikely, but it’s also, tantalisingly, well short of impossible. The received wisdom is that Lionel Messi would love to play for Bielsa, and there is also the rumour that the new Adidas deal provides for the possibility of a marquee signing, the kind of player who would raise even the profile of a global giant such as Adidas a notch or two. As for the player himself, could he perhaps be tempted at this stage of his career to help complete the return to the global stage of a former player in Leeds United, just as Gordon Strachan did thirty years ago, and just as Maradona did at Napoli?
As rumours go, it’s not a bad one. And at least we’re not speculating about the likes of Wayne Rooney, who found the task of revitalising Derby County a step too far. At a time when Messi’s Barcelona adventure is showing signs of turning a bit sour, maybe – just maybe – he might be looking for an inspirational challenge elsewhere – and under his favourite coach, too.
Marching On Together
Life, Leeds United, the Universe & Everything 
Well rob we can only dream,
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We can all dream
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It’s more likely that Bielsa will manage Messi at Barcelona.
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I doubt that, Fat Dave
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I’m not sure that Messi is good enough to break into the first team right now.
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Good cover for Pablo though
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Rodrigo is a damn good start Rob, (need to watch how I say this) get Koch in, possibly Kent or Benrahma and all of a sudden we’re looking pretty tasty 😋 – Getting Messi would be a miracle, and don’t let anyone tell you he’s over the hill, his goal scoring and assists stats are always off the charts. Miracles do still happen, and our resident miracle worker could just be the key in this😉
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Let’s face it – as Leeds fans, we all want Koch 👍
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He wants to leave, possibly on a free and the squadron of pigs are grounded. So…. are we a step closer?
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would certainly negate brighton’s rigid objection to selling ben white to a ‘relegation rival’
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Marcelo Bielsa will, no doubt, have already identified his own “Messi” amongst our current crop of young stars and spent two years coaching him in readiness for the Premier League Rob
We are certainly blessed to have a world class coach who improves current players & develops youngsters into rounded & talented players capable of performing Bielsaball in the first team
I am certainly disappointed that Ben White isn’t being allowed to continue his amazing development, playing for the team he helped achieve promotion to the Premier League but in Bielsa we have a coach who knows exactly how to overcome such disappointments & challenges
I actually think that it is much more a case of Messi “dreaming” of playing for Bielsa at Leeds United rather than our fans dreaming of Messi playing for us Rob
How quickly fortunes & optimism change in the world of football (not that SIXTEEN YEARS is particularly “quick” in our case Rob)!!!!
ALAW
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