Marcelo Bielsa apologises for not speaking English with Leeds players and says it is a ‘big deficit’

The Elland Road boss is widely regarded as one of the most influential coaches in the game and he has guided Leeds to a likely mid-table finish in their first season back in the top flight for 16 years

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Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa has apologised for not conducting his media interviews in English.

Bielsa has proved the language barrier has been no obstacle in leading the club back to the Premier League and establishing them in mid-table this season.

But the 65-year-old Argentinian said: “I owe an apology to those who have to listen to me, that I haven’t learned English.”

His players have routinely praised the nature of their manager’s work this season, highlighting his influence as critical to the team not just surviving, but thriving in their first campaign in the top flight in well over a decade.

Winger Raphinha recently described his manager as a “father figure”, acknowledging he was “demanding” but making the point he cared for the players as well as wanting results.

Despite that being clear to the squad through any kind of language barrier, Bielsa says it has been a significant drawback to his approach that he has not mastered the national tongue, as he searches for a way to portray to the players what he wants them to do on the pitch.

“One of my big deficits through my passage in English football is not to be able to communicate in the language that everybody speaks.

“In one way it debilitates me, the fact that I haven’t been able to learn how to speak English. One of the bigger tools that a coach has is to transmit his message through his words.

“One of the things I’ve dedicated most time to while I’ve been a coach is to be able to speak well.

“If there’s something I like to do, and it’s taken me a long time, is to the significance and the definition of words and to say in the most simple way, without losing the richness of what I want to say.

“Because it’s so difficult for me to talk in Spanish, to express my ideas simply and briefly, the decision I took not to do this in another language that wasn’t mine.

“That’s to say, that if I can’t say it in Spanish, how can I be able to say it in English? The first one who doesn’t believe this explanation is myself, but it’s my reality.”

Bielsa habitually utilises the services of his translator in press conferences.

His Leeds future remains undecided, with the manager preferring to discuss one-year contracts at the end of each season. He has never before remained boss of a senior club for four seasons - next year would be his fourth at Elland Road.

Additional reporting by PA