A look at how Marcelo Bielsa’s sacking may affect Gareth Southgate 

It’s hard to think of a better example of a footballer who has evolved to the extent that Kalvin Phillips has over the last few years. At the start of 2018, the midfielder couldn’t hold down a spot in a Leeds United side that would continually finish around mid-table in the Championship but come the end of the 2021 summer, Phillips was voted England’s best player after a swashbuckling performance at the Euro Championships.

Unsurprisingly, Phillips is also Leeds United’s best player these days and the cost of his absence for a large majority of this season due to injury is best displayed in the latest football betting online relegation markets as the Whites have slipped to a knee-trembling 15/8 to go down. The feeling, however, is that when Phillips returns in March, Leeds will begin to put some daylight in between them and the relegation places. 

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Although when the 26-year-old does make his comeback, he will no longer have Marcelo Bielsa on the touchline to point the way forward after Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani chose to dispense with the Argentine’s services in late February. It was a decision that brought more than a few to tears in West Yorkshire who had grown to adore Bielsa and what he stood for. Indeed, Bielsa’s integrity was revered by the Leeds faithful and so was his revolutionary footballing philosophies that helped Leeds clinch promotion in 2020 after a 16-year hiatus from the Premier League. 

Incredibly, Bielsa did not buy his way to the Championship title but instead nurtured and improved the players that he had at his disposal. Few thought it was possible as the players that Bielsa intended to use could do no better than a thirteenth-place finish the season before the Argentine arrived. Essentially, Bielsa built the team around Phillips, and over the 42 months that Bielsa was at Elland Road, turned him into one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. It is a journey of utter amazement that raises the hairs on the back of your neck.

With this in mind, however, you do just wonder about Phillips’ progression and whether it will now cease to continue with Bielsa back at his ranch in Maximo Paz, Argentina. No one will be more concerned about this potential and ultimately unwelcome eventuality than England manager Gareth Southgate. The Three Lions boss has, after all, made Phillips the focal point of his team, just like Bielsa did. 

It would be unthinkable for Southgate if Phillips began to regress or at least wasn’t able to continue to reach the level of performance that he did under the masterly Bielsa. It could for all intents and purposes lead to Southgate being moved on by the FA, such is Phillips’ current influence on his team.

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The expression “strong Yorkshire, strong England” comes to mind when weighing up the stakes at play with regards to how Phillips will perform for the national team now that his guru is no longer running his eye over the 26-year-old every day in training. The fervent hope for Leeds, England and of course Southgate is that Phillips has taken on all he needs to from Bielsa and will be able to continue to grow over the next few years now that he has established a world-class foundation from which to operate.

A look at how Marcelo Bielsa’s sacking may affect Gareth Southgate 

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