LOSC Lille head coach Paulo Fonseca has confirmed in a recent interview that he spoke to former Leeds United sporting director Victor Orta about moving to Elland Road after Marcelo Bielsa was dismissed.
Bielsa was a fan-favoure in Yorkshire. The legendary coach took the Peacocks to the Premier League for the first time in almost two decades back in 2020. However, after an excellent debut campaign in the top-flight, the ship began to sink.
Off the back of a 4-0 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur back in February 2022, the board made the difficult decision to relieve Bielsa of his duties after a four-year spell in the dugout..
Ultimately, former Salzburg and RB Leipzig manager Jesse Marsch was handed the reins, with a style very different to the one Bielsa had imposed over his stint at the club, one focused on intense pressing and transitions as opposed to possession.
Nevertheless, it was reported after Bielsa’s sacking that Paulo Fonseca was being touted as the man to replace the current Uruguay boss before the hierarchy decided to hand Marsch the job.
In a recent interview at the TransferRoom congress, as cited by Portuguese outlet Record, the now-Lille manager confirmed that he held talks with Leeds [quotes via Sport Witness]:
“We didn’t talk much about the project itself. It was a quick meeting. He talked a lot about the club, the infrastructure, the culture of the club and the city. It was more about that.”
At the same conference, former Leeds sporting director Victor Orta went into further detail about nearly appointing Fonseca to the hotseat:
“I looked for Paulo Fonseca to replace Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds. As well as natural ability and leadership, there’s also the emotional part. You have to believe that people have a positive emotional side. It was a productive conversation. Before, we were wondering how we were going to find someone who would work and this TransferRoom tool helps with that. It’s useful to realise how a coach can work in a project.”
Writer’s View
Fonseca is a manager who likes his teams to dominate possession during games and was much closer to Bielsa’s tactical ideology than Marsch, who eventually got the job.
The former AS Roma manager is one of the best tacticians in Ligue 1 right now, with his side sitting fourth in the French top-flight. Leeds could have had a much better chance of staying in the Premier League had Fonseca took charge.
