Marcelo Bielsa to delay Leeds contract talks until end of season

Marcelo Bielsa on the touchline

Marcelo Bielsa intends to wait until the end of the season before entering discussions to extend his contract at Leeds United.

Bielsa, 65, who signed a one-year extension after winning promotion to the Premier League last season, has guided the club impressively in the top flight, with 10 points and a game in hand separating Leeds from the relegation zone.

Bielsa insisted that the delay was not an indicator that he is considering his future at Elland Road and said “there is no speculation from my part”.

“The first thing I want to highlight, because what it seems like is that the president is offering me an extension and I am delaying it,” Bielsa said. “It could be interpreted as the club having more of a desire for me to stay than I do and that’s not the case.

“In no way do I want to position myself above the club. I reiterate, I am not going to manage any other options until my job here at Leeds is done. There is no speculation from my part.

“The second thing is that the decision to work in a club for another year is so important that you must have a clear security.

“When you have a third of the season left to play, perhaps in this period there will be things that happen that will alter the judgement that is useful to have in mind. That is my reasoning. So I go to what you ask me.

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“If the club needs an answer before the end of the season, I will respond before the end of the season. But if this happens I will take the time to tell them that they should consider what happens in the last part of the season.

“In this case it’s possible that they could say to me ‘ok, we’ll wait until the end of the season’, or they may say to me ‘no, we need to resolve this before the end of the season. If they need a response prior to the end of the season then I will give one.”

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