Bielsa admits he made big mistake over key £1.5m Leeds star

Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa has held his hands up and admitted his first assessment of key midfielder Mateusz Klich was completely wrong.

The Poland midfielder joined the Whites in a £1.58m deal from FC Twente in the summer of 2017, but only made four Championship appearances before being loaned out during January and seen as something of a scapegoat under previous boss Thomas Christiansen.

However, after returning to Elland Road from his loan at FC Utrecht, the player has reinvented himself and made himself a key man under new boss Bielsa.

The 28-year-old has impressed in an attacking midfield role for Leeds this season; that comes after Bielsa admitted he considered playing Klich as a third centre-half.

“He is a very influential player in the team. The space that he has now inside the team is linked to what he brings to the team,” Bielsa told Leeds Live.

“Actually, it’s more his responsibility, his influence inside the team than the work that I did with him.

“He was very patient during the pre-season work and he tolerated many mistakes I have made evaluating him as a footballer.

“During the pre-season, he even played as a centre-back, so obviously was very patient with the analysis I did of him.

“Then things happened, Adam Forshaw got injured and he has improved on each game, he was playing better.”

The third centre-half role was instead handed out to Kalvin Phillips, with the Leeds-born star also impressing and our exclusive on Sunday revealing how he’d been watched by a number of Premier League scouts in recent weeks.

Klich, meanwhile, scored his fifth goal of the season as Leeds fought back to draw 1-1 at Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night.

You can read Bielsa’s assessment from a fine Leeds performance here.

 

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