Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke is looking to follow in Marcelo Bielsa's footsteps at Elland Road by keeping the team in the Premier League after promotion from the Championship.
The Argentine manager, who was at Wembley to secure a 1-1 draw against England for Uruguay last week, led the club to a top-half finish in the top-flight in the 2020/21 campaign.
A top-half finish in the Premier League may be a tad ambitious for the Whites at this moment in time, but avoiding relegation is a real possibility for Farke and his side.
leeds-bielsa
With seven games left to play after the international break, Leeds are four points ahead of West Ham United in the final relegation position, whilst they are also ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest.
If the West Yorkshire outfit go on to avoid relegation straight back down to the Championship, their work in the summer transfer window last summer will have played a humungous role in their survival.
How Leeds learned from Bielsa's transfer success
In the 2020/21 campaign, nine of the most used XI in Bielsa's favoured 4-1-4-1 formation had played for the Whites in the Championship promotion season, as the club opted to go for quality over quantity in the transfer window.
Raphinha
The likes of Diego Llorente, Raphinha, Rodrigo, and Robin Koch were sprinkled among the existing stars like Patrick Bamford, Kalvin Phillips, and Luke Ayling.
Farke took a leaf from Bielsa's book in that regard because five of the most used XI in both the 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 formations played for the German head coach in the Championship last term, which shows that he has trusted plenty of the stars who got the club to the top-flight.
|Most used Leeds XIs (25/26 PL)|
|433|352|
|---|
|GK: Perri|GK - Perri|
|RB - Bogle|CB - Rodon|
|CB - Rodon|CB - Bijol|
|CB - Struijk|CB - Struijk|
|LB - Gudmundsson|RWB - Bogle|
|CM - Longstaff|CM - Aaronson|
|CM - Ampadu|CM - Ampadu|
|CM - Stach|CM - Stach|
|RW - Aaronson|LWB - Gudmundsson|
|CF - Calvert-Lewin|CF - Okafor|
|LW - Okafor|CF - Calvert-Lewin|
Instead of signing an entire new starting line-up and completely revamping the squad, Farke did what Bielsa did and created a blend of proven Leeds stars and quality new signings to ensure that there was a good mix of togetherness, familiarity, and quality.
One of the Whites stars who has successfully made the step up to the Premier League from the Championship is even looking like a hybrid of Ayling and Bamford, who both made the same transition under Bielsa.
Leeds United's new Ayling and Bamford hybrid
An Ayling and Bamford hybrid may sound unusual, given their different positions. The former started all 38 matches in the Premier League as a right-back or a centre-back in a back four or back three, offering defensive quality and versatility to the team.
bamford-ayling-leeds-premier-league
Bamford, meanwhile, was not expected to be a big success in the top-flight after he scored one Premier League for Chelsea, Norwich, Crystal Palace, and Middlesbrough combined.
He had flopped in the top-flight before scoring a whopping 17 goals in 38 matches for Leeds under Bielsa in the 2020/21 campaign, surpassing expectations to become a star at Elland Road.
Now, Joe Rodon looks like a hybrid of both of them because he flopped at Tottenham Hotspur, playing 24 times for them before they decided to send him back down to the Championship, whilst he is also a defensive monster in the present day.
Leeds United's Joe Rodon reacts
Like Bamford, not much may have been expected of the Wales international after he failed to make the grade at Spurs, but he has established himself as a reliable and dominant Premier League defender this season.
Meanwhile, he is also similar to Ayling in the sense that he has been incredibly reliable at the back in multiple formations, playing wide right of a three in a back three, in the middle of a back three, or on the left or right of a centre-back pairing in a back four.
25/26 Premier League Rodon
Appearances 29
Starts 29
Goals 2
Pass accuracy 88%
Ground duel success rate 69%
Aerial duel success rate 53%
Clearances 165
Rodon has started all 29 of his appearances in the division, illustrating Farke's faith in the Welshman, and he has delivered quality in those matches, dominating in duels and ranking 15th in the entire league for clearances made.
The former Spurs flop has proven that he can perform to a high level in the Premier League and that his time in North London does not define him as a player, as was the case with Bamford and his previous struggles in the top-flight at other clubs.
joe-rodon-leeds-premier-league
Rodon's performances this season have been so pleasing to see because of how defensively reliable he has been, as Ayling once was, and because of how he has changed the perception of him after his time at Spurs.
Therefore, Farke has hit the jackpot with the Welsh star, who joined from Spurs for £10m in the summer of 2024 after a year on loan at Elland Road, as he currently looks like a hybrid of Ayling and Bamford.
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