Marcelo Bielsa says contract situation 'resolved' at Leeds United

Ahead of the opening game of Premier League season against Manchester United on Saturday, Argentine indicates he has reached agreement to stay on for further year

Marcelo Bielsa took over as Leeds United manager in 2018. Reuters

Leeds United manager Maerco Bielsa has said his contract situation at the Premier League club has been “resolved".

The 66-year-old did not go into any details at a press conference before Leeds' opening game of the season at Manchester United on Saturday but indicated that he has agreed to remain at Elland Road for another season.

“The contract situation is one that is already resolved,” Bielsa said through a translator. “One year is habitual.”

There had been no information that a new deal had been reached despite the new campaign being just days away. But club chief executive Angus Kinnear has claimed Bielsa’s willingness to let his contract situation rumble on is due to his “lack of interest in it” as he focuses on preparing his team.

The Argentine, who joined the Yorkshire side in 2018 and led them to promotion from the Championship in 2020, also praised the club's owners for their commitment to improving training facilities and infrastructure.

“From my point of view, this is an extraordinary club,” he said. “It's not often you have a club that designates so much volume of investment to the improvement of the training facilities.

“Leeds have made a significant contribution economically to provide the tools for a manager to prepare to be the ideal ones.

“Everything we need in this area, the club has resolved it with very high investment … I’m astounded by the conduct of the club.”

On the playing side, Leeds have made Jack Harrison's loan move from Manchester City permanent one, signed Junior Firpo from Barcelona and also completed deals for youngsters Amari Miller, Lewis Bate, Kristoffer Klaesson and Sean McGurk.

“I'm satisfied with the group I'm working with,” he said, while refusing to comment on whether other deals were in the pipeline. “I couldn't tell you about hypothetical situations but what I can tell you is the group of players I have I'm happy with.”

Firpo will be available to take on old rivals United on Saturday, but defender Diego Llorente is “one or two weeks” away from being fit, according to Bielsa.

In their first season back in the Premier League for 16 years, Leeds sealed a ninth-place finish with Bielsa winning plenty of plaudits along the way for his commitment to attacking football.

“Ninth in the table is a good position but I don't want to exaggerate something that is not that great,” Bielsa told Sky Sports earlier this week.

“We are going to try to improve all aspects of our play. We have weak points which we showed over the course of last season. Now is the time to correct those things and do things more effectively.

“I believe that in football, there is very little margin to invent or create new things. What we will try to do is to improve the things we have been doing up until now. Yes, we are now better known to our rivals. But they are also better known to us.”