It’s been a little over a week since Leeds United sacked Jesse Marsch and they are no closer to appointing his successor, even despite the American being on the verge of landing another job in the Premier League…
Leeds manager news – Has Philippe Clement been linked?
Marsch is set to become Southampton’s next boss after they parted ways with Nathan Jones at the weekend. Meanwhile, the Elland Road hierarchy continues to look for the right man to fill their vacant role.
One name that has recently been linked to the job is AS Monaco’s Philippe Clement, according to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf. They have also noted the Whites’ interest in Feyenoord boss Arne Slot, as well as Rayo Vallecano’s Andoni Iraola but neither seem set to make the switch to west Yorkshire.
Clement would get Patrick Bamford firing again
The 48-year-old tactician, formerly of Club Brugge and KRC Genk, has totally transformed Les Rogue et Blanc’s fortunes at the Stade Louis II as they sit third in the Ligue 1 standings, fresh off the back of their 3-1 scalp of defending champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Clement is said to be a “daring” manager who plays with “high intensity” – in the eyes of Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell, who also claimed the Belgian was “one of the most prominent and successful coaches in Europe” recently.
That would make his fit for the current squad of players at the club a pretty good one, considering it follows on from a similar sort of ethos as Marcelo Bielsa and to some extent, Marsch too.
The former Coventry City defender – in his heyday – is also renowned for his ability to revive the fortunes of underperforming players, with Aleksandr Golovin and Myron Boadu.
Boasting an impressive 55.3% win rate from 56 games in charge, one of the aforementioned stars has been integral to Monaco’s form on the pitch.
The injury-prone Russian veteran is currently the team’s top performer in the league and has already usurped his returns last season with five goals and six assists, via WhoScored.
This should, ultimately, be wonderful news for a player like Patrick Bamford as the £74k-per-week marksman has found it very hard to get back to his scintillating best. It was only in 2020/21 that the Englishman bagged 17 goals and laid on a further seven assists in Leeds’ first season back in the big time.
Since then, however, he has been struck by multiple injuries and they have clearly taken their toll. The 29-year-old played only 559 minutes in the Premier League last season, whilst his comeback at the turn of the year has seen him yield just one goal, with none scored in his last four outings.
You could argue that Bamford – who was once hailed as a “goal machine” by ex-Guardian journalist Charlie Phillips – needs the right sort of manager to help him refind his goalscoring boots and given the success that Clement has had with older, more injury-prone individuals, he could well be the answer.
A fit and firing Bamford is only going to bolster Leeds’ plight heading into the final few months of the season, so chairman Andrea Radrizzani must do all he can to lure the 48-year-old to west Yorkshire before it’s too late.
AND in other news, “Whatever they want” – Joe Wainman begs Leeds to get 40-year-old to Elland Road “done”…
