Marcelo Bielsa’s arrival at Elland Road has got Leeds United’s supporters excited ahead of the 2018/19 campaign.  

After last season’s disappointing effort in the Sky Bet Championship, Leeds are expecting Bielsa to transform their fortune, after the 62-year-old’s appointment was confirmed last week.

Leeds’ supporters are desperate to see if Bielsa turns to his favoured 3-3-1-3 formation, which would bring incredible flexibility to the way Leeds play, albeit with an element of risk.

In that system, Bielsa could move some of his midfielders into his back-three, whilst also pushing full-back into a narrow wing-back role.

An attacking midfielder features behind an attacking trio, with Bielsa’s system something that hasn’t been seen often in the Championship.

Here at FLW, we take a look at the midfield unit Bielsa could turn to at Elland Road, identifying the personnel he could turn to ahead of the 2018/19 campaign…

Ayling will be pushed further forward into a right wing-back role.

Throughout his time at Elland Road, Ayling has featured as a right-back, but Bielsa could utilise him differently.

Ayling is comfortable on the ball and good in both attack and defence. He is the ideal candidate to fill this role.

Again, Forshaw is the obvious candidate to play in central midfield, but could be used as a central defender by Bielsa.

However, a role in the middle of midfield will get the best out of Forshaw.

In this role, a lot of Leeds’ play will go through Forshaw.

We’ve seen Pearce excel as an attacking left-back and in this role he will thrive going forward.

Like Ayling, he’s comfortable on the ball and has good defensive awareness.

Flanking Forshaw with this duo will mean Leeds aren’t overrun in midfield.

It’ll either be Saiz or Pablo Hernandez in the No.10 role.

Many will expect to see Hernandez, given his form last season, but Saiz has more energy than his teammate, which Bielsa will like.

Of course, both will be used, but Saiz might just be given the nod at the start of the season.