Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins is exploring the South American waters in search for a replacement for the recently sacked Garry Monk.
According to reports, 60-year-old Marcelo Bielsa is the frontrunner in taking up the job at the Liberty stadium. Bielsa comes with a very impressive resume having managed Argentina in the 2002 World Cup, Chile in 2010, and Athletico Bilbao whom he took to the Europa League and the Copa del Rey finals in 2013.
Pep Guardiola too has sung praises of the Argentinean calling him the best manager he has faced. But on the flip side of this stalwart’s achievement is the fact that Bielsa hasn’t managed an English team ever and is not familiar with English too. Known to be an uncanny character, Bielsa gives separate training timings for different parts of his team. And the Argentinean has never lasted more than two years in any of the clubs he has managed and it his antics that have earned him the name El Loco and rightly so as he left Marseille after one match of this season!
Pep Guardiola too has sung praises of the Argentinean calling him the best manager he has faced. But on the flip side of this stalwart’s achievement is the fact that Bielsa hasn’t managed an English team ever and is not familiar with English too. Known to be an uncanny character, Bielsa gives separate training timings for different parts of his team. And the Argentinean has never lasted more than two years in any of the clubs he has managed and it his antics that have earned him the name El Loco and rightly so as he left Marseille after one match of this season!
And the Argentinean has never lasted more than two years in any of the clubs he has managed and it his antics that have earned him the name El Loco and rightly so as he left Marseille after one match of this season!
But all things aside Bielsa might be the right fir for Swansea as they are currently looking for a short term solution, someone who can pick up the pieces of their tattered league campaign and save them from succumbing to relegation. And Bielsa might be the right choice as the Argentinean brings a high action game which might be the need of the hour at the Liberty Stadium.
Other options available to the Swansea boss are Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli and Gus Poyet. Though Gus Poyet’s appointment as the Swansea boss is just a rumour as the AEK Athens, his current club has vehemently denied being approached by Swasea and has said “Mr Poyet is happy at the club and will be our manager at least until the end of the season.” As for Sampaoli, he is just like Bielsa in his footballing approach and instincts and is currently residing in the recesses of uncertainty regarding his future after the head of the national federation pleaded guilty to the FIFA corruption charges.