Great minds of Leeds United’s Marcelo Bielsa and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola think alike in pursuit of football perfection

Suggestions that the Manchester City chief – who takes his side to Leeds United for a high-brow meeting of football minds on Saturday with a Svengali of his profession in Bielsa – is little more than a ‘chequebook manager’ are both trite and demeaning.

Top coaching technocrats like Guardiola make players better and broaden their knowledge of the game, not just their individual position on the pitch.

It is why Bielsa – when asked if Guardiola could adapt and successfully employ his methods at a mid-table Championship side without the benefit of finance – quickly replied in the affirmative.

In his time at Barcelona, Guardiola helped perhaps the greatest player of them all in Lionel Messi switch effortlessly from the wing into a false nine and a prolific central striker.

That said, few players are approaching Messi’s level and the true barometer of Guardiola’s talent is how he has transformed the career of lesser mortals.

At Bayern Munich, David Alaba – after operating across the park – was switched into a central defender of distinction.

Last season, Guardiola’s influence helped Fernandinho comfortably emerge as City’s leading centre-half – and compensate for the loss of Vincent Kompany amid an injury crisis which saw the likes of Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi out of action.

That Fernandinho, a holding midfielder for the majority of his career, was able to learn a new position at the age of 34 and look as though he had played there all of his life was testament to Guardiola’s teaching.

Bielsa has shown similar traits at Leeds.

It is no coincidence that Stuart Dallas is equally at home now in central midfield or out wide and that Kalvin Phillips – who has received his second call-up to the senior England squad – has been turned into one of the country’s best young defensive midfielders.

Or why Ben White, aside from being a ‘Rolls-Royce’ of a centre-half, also slotted in seamlessly as a holding midfielder when the occasion arose last season.

Managers will always prize versatility. Ability is an obvious prerequisite, but having the right coach to instruct players about new technical roles is also key.

It will help to explain why Bielsa is comfortable with Gjanni Alioski stepping in for a player of influence in Jack Harrison on Saturday – with Harrison ineligible under the terms of his loan.

Bielsa commented: “I prefer to have a smaller squad rather than an excessive squad. This of course is risky. When a squad is small, if players can play in more than one position, it is an advantage and a necessity.

“Harrison is very important, but he is not going to play. Alioski is able to do as well or better than Harrison. Then after there is the game where you have to show.”

Just as Bielsa hopes to have found a solution in Alioski, so Guardiola’s reputation precedes him on that count according to the Argentine.

He has made City beautiful to watch and while much of their play – like Leeds’s – appears wonderfully instinctive, it has been painstakingly choreographed on the training ground.

Watching both sides may well be an education to the observer on Saturday, but viewing Bielsa and Guardiola at close quarters will be equally fascinating.

Being a ‘fly on the wall’ during their discussion over a post-match drink would be something that football aficionados would pay good money to be present at.

On what he likes about Guardiola, Bielsa said: “First of all he is imaginative. He is able to instantly create solutions to problems that he imagines.

“And the other thing that distinguishes him as a coach is that what he proposes, he is able to implement them.

“Guardiola imagines football in a freedom type of way, but to imagine football in this way is not to say that footballers will act the same and they don’t need a lot of time to implement them.

“I don’t know too many people in my humble opinion who are deserved of this type of praise.”

Patrick Bamford can count himself among the many players whose careers have been taken onto the next level by Bielsa, although the United head coach is cautious when talk turns to the forward’s seamless start to life in the Premier League with Leeds.

As ever, Bielsa’s message is a shrewd and well-directed one.

“To make conclusions ahead of time is not good,” he observed.

“What allows you to have good opinions or more concrete opinions are the performances over a period of time.

“For example, how do we judge (Ilan) Meslier, who conceded seven in two and then made important saves against Sheffield United?

“So we must wait a longer period of time to establish more concrete opinions which would be better.”

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James Mitchinson