MADRID, 20 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The candidate for the presidency of Athletic Club Iñaki Arechabaleta presented this Monday the Argentine Marcelo Bielsa as coach of the rojiblanco team if he wins the elections this Friday, June 24, assuring that having the “most revered” coach in football is a decision “professional” and “non-media”.
“It is a decision made from responsibility, enthusiasm and emotion. The coach we present is Marcelo Bielsa. We always thought, both this project and Bielsa, that we had a very good coach,” Arechabaleta started at the presentation of his proposal for the ‘lions’ bench, praising the work of Marcelino García during the season that has just ended.
The candidate described Bielsa as “the world’s top 5 coach”, the coach “most revered by world professionals”. “We have found a Marcelo Bielsa of the future, we are not looking at the past. The decision is not mediatic, it is professional, it has evolved to unsuspected limits. His ambition, quality and capabilities will take us to the Athletic that we must”, he insisted.
“Today’s Marcelo Bielsa is placed as a benchmark in the world’s coaches. He gave us the best season of Athletic in the 21st century”, he recalled his previous stage at the club (2011-2013). “But the work that has been done is prior, since he was here several years have passed, the degree of maturity, the achievement of objectives and the performance of players have been judged. He has evolved a lot. He is at the forefront of world coaches “, he added.
Arechabaleta confirmed that “in principle” Bielsa will sign a two-year contract, in what they have considered a link with a “normal duration.” In addition, he reported that they have spoken of reinforcement, although the Argentine coach “is aware” that the club cannot make “large disbursements.”
“The coaching staff is quite defined and it will be quite mixed.
We have talked about the squad in general, but we have a lot of people. From the 24th the names will be specified. The fundamental reason for your positive response is your analysis. Bielsa liked Marcelino a lot for Athletic and it wasn’t until he said ‘no’ that we started working on the agreement with him. He considers that he has a good team and can take advantage of it, he thinks that he will give us a lot of joy, “he stressed.
BIELSA: “IT IS A VERY BIG RESPONSIBILITY FOR ME TO MANAGE ATHLETIC”
In a video projected during the event, Marcelo Bielsa addressed those present, explaining his positive response to the project, as well as revealing his analysis and working method. “In the month of March I had a contact with Iñaki Arechabaleta and he proposed the possibility that I accept in case he was the winner in the elections for the presidency of Athletic”, he related.
“He asked me if I was interested in being an Athletic coach. I told him that I wanted to evaluate him, it is a very big responsibility to lead a team like Athletic, even more so for me since I have already been there and I know what it is about. I told him that It would take a reasonable time”, he stated about the process, assuring that “the best thing for Athletic” was the continuity of Marcelino. “It had room for growth,” he said.
Bielsa highlighted that the current squad of the Basque team has “room for evolution”. “The quality is comparable to that of the 2011-2013 team and it has a greater number of players,” he concluded.