Jorge Sampaoli's appointment as Marseille late last month comes with no shortage of intrigue.
Sampaoli was unveiled as Andre Villas Boas' replacement at the French club in February, in what is just the firebrand Argentine's second job in Europe.
The 61-year-old has a well-known reverence to Marcelo Bielsa, revealing in 2018 that he had tuned in to watch Leeds United's Championship matches purely to see his idol's team in action.
Yet many Whites fans may not know exactly how deep Sampaoli's passion for Bielsa goes, with the former Argentina manager revealing in 2014 that he spent 10 years 'spying' on his compatriot, spending every waking second thinking about Bielsa's football philosophy.
"I had reached a point where I had become dependent on Bielsa," he said.
"I spied on Marcelo for 10 years. I watched his training. I followed him everywhere.
"I spent at least 14 hours a day thinking about him and watching videos of his games. I even recorded his press conferences and listened to them while jogging.
"I always identified with his philosophy, his offensive project and his view of the game."
In further interviews, Sampaoli elaborated on how he identified with the fact Bielsa had a preference to manage underdogs.
He said: "Marcelo’s strength is to generate a revolt in minor teams that allows them to fight and try to win against the big ones.
"That’s what I liked about him. I listened to him a lot how he managed to generate these changes."
With Bielsa having enjoyed a successful season at Marseille before resigning due to a conflict with the club hierarchy, Les Olympiens' appointment of Sampaoli can perhaps be viewed as the club trying to emulate what they had under Bielsa.
Bielsa himself has commented on Sampaoli's arrival at Stade Velodrome, arguing that his view does not matter due to his compatriot's experience speaking for itself.
He told French TV channel Canal: "He is a very well known manager.
"He was the Argentina manager, for Chile, he has won major titles in South America. He has managed in Europe.
"So no matter what opinion I give, his experience speaks for him."
