Marcelo Bielsa remained coy on his long-term Leeds United future after their play-off semi-final defeat on Wednesday night, though he is ready to negotiate with the Championship club.
Leeds’ bid for promotion to the Premier League came to a dramatic end against Derby County, with Frank Lampard’s men running out 4-2 winners at Elland Road to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit.
Bielsa’s side become the first team to win a Championship play-off semi-final first leg away from home and yet fail to reach the final. The 2019/20 campaign will therefore be Leeds’ 16th successive season outside the top-flight.
Speculation that Bielsa could leave Elland Road upon failure to earn promotion has been rife since it appeared likely that Leeds would miss out on a top-two finish and have to settle for the play-offs.
Bielsa’s contract would have been automatically extended had Leeds won promotion, though even without a Premier League place, a deal could yet be struck between the Argentine and the club.
“As you can imagine, it is not convenient to talk about this point right now,” Bielsa said, when asked about his future after the final whistle. “There is a process and you know about this process. If the club offers me the possibility to carry on I will listen to this proposal.”
Bielsa largely blamed Leeds’ 4-2 defeat on a 20-minute period which saw his side go from 2-0 up on aggregate to 3-2 down, with Jack Marriott, Mason Mount and Harry Wilson all scoring in quick succession either side of half time.
“The team had 20 minutes lacking control but I couldn't find a solution and my job is to find solutions to problems, especially when there are structural problems. We had 20 minutes of disorder. I couldn't imagine any solution,” he said.
“What the players offered to the club this season will be valued with time. The fact we could not reach goals that were so close leaves a feeling of disappointment, but you can have another perspective about it.
“We had the conditions to finish first or second and all the conditions needed to show we are the best team of all the teams playing in the playoffs. We couldn't finish first or second, we couldn't reach the final of the playoffs. Obviously, there are mistakes that prevented us from reaching our goals.”
