Darren Eales has confirmed that Atlanta United are not looking to appoint Marcelo Bielsa as the club’s new head-coach despite speculation surrounding the Leeds United boss this week.  

Leeds’ fast start to the Championship season under Bielsa has helped to raise the Argentinian’s profile further, with a move to the MLS reported on various platforms yesterday morning.

However, Eales, Atlanta’s president, has played down the rumour, insisting that his club are not looking to bring Bielsa on board ahead of the new MLS season.

“Absolutely not. As far as I’m aware he’s managing Leeds at the moment, so I’m not sure where that’s come from,” the 46-year-old  told the Daily Mail.

“There may be a misconception because I was talking about style of play and I said, ‘If you look at Tata Martino, Mauricio Pochettino, when I was at Tottenham, he talked about Bielsa’s style of play’. 

“They’ve all come from that tree of Marcelo Bielsa and Newell’s Old Boys and what he did there.

“I think someone may have got the wrong end of the stick, clearly not. He’s coaching at Leeds. He’s not someone that we’d be thinking about.” 

Bielsa has Leeds in the thick of the Championship’s promotion race after 21 fixtures, with the Whites looking to end a long exile from the Premier League under the Argentinian’s rule.

The Whites find themselves on a four game winning streak heading into this weekend’s clash with Bolton Wanderers, which is the start of a gruelling festive period.

From now, Leeds will play four times before the end of 2018 before facing a trip to Nottingham Forest on New Year’s Day.

The Verdict  

This is an obvious boost for Leeds, although many would doubt that Bielsa would walk out on the club at this stage with things going so well.

The Argentinian has done a superb job so far this season and has transformed the Elland Road club. There’s no doubt that he is building something special in Leeds and he seems the type of character to want to see that out.

Now, full focus must be on Saturday’s trip to Bolton, which is a potential banana skin for the Whites.

Thoughts? Let us know!