Leeds United: Ben White reveals brutal first message Marcelo Bielsa said to him | OneFootball

Ben White spent the 2019-20 campaign on loan at Leeds United

Ben White has opened up on what it was like to work with Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United.

The legendary coach spent four years in charge at Elland Road and earned a massively popular reputation among supporters.

The 69-year-old guided the club to Premier League promotion in 2020, ending a 16-year absence from the top flight.

White spent the 2019-20 campaign on loan with Leeds, appearing in all 46 of their Championship games as they clinched the second division title (all stats from Fbref).

The 27-year-old has gone on to cement himself as a key figure at Arsenal as the London club chases a first Premier League title since 2004 under Mikel Arteta.

Ben White opens up on Marcelo Bielsa experience

White has revealed that Bielsa was quite direct when communicating with the players, but that he could go months without saying anything to him.

He provided an example from his first training session with the club in 2019, and indicated that this method proved successful in getting the best out of him.

“I think he was so good at that [getting in your head],” said White, via Amazon Prime Video Sport on YouTube.

“My first training session, he didn’t speak English so someone would interpret it.

“He said to me, ‘that I was too slow, I wasn’t agile enough and somehow I wasn’t mentally quick enough’ and then just walked off.

“He didn’t speak to me again then for probably months.

“I can probably count how many times he spoke to me.

“But when he would say something to you, you would just do it.

“I think it’s quite big thing to say, you’re too slow, you can’t really work at that quickly, but I think it was just for him to say you’re not at the highest level and you’ve got so much to improve on.

“Obviously I did, it was my first training session after I hadn’t trained all summer and I probably was too slow.”

Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds stint

Bielsa quickly became a fan favourite at Leeds for the exciting brand of football he brought to Elland Road.

He could often be spotted in the area during his time with the club, and has gone down in folklore as one of their best ever coaches.

The veteran coach oversaw 170 games with the Whites, winning 81 and losing 59, leaving the team in February 2022 after a difficult campaign.

He has since become the manager of Uruguay national team, taking charge of the side in May 2023.

Bielsa’s coaching methods have proved inspirational to many

Bielsa is one of the great enigma’s of modern coaching, with his methods proving inspirational to a lot of the top managers in the game.

He has influenced the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Diego Simeone, who have competed at the very highest level of the sport.

His communication style has often been described as cold, with his preference being to not speak to players very often at all.

But his best sides have all worked extremely hard for him, running more than the opposition, which his Leeds side typified quite well, especially in their promotion winning campaign in 2020.