Sources: Bielsa stance revealed amid big resumption development
Marcelo Bielsa has made it clear to Leeds United chiefs his players will need to train together for up to four weeks before they can play Championship matches, Football Insider has learned.
The United senior stars have been training alone at home for the past three weeks after Thorp Arch was shut due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Talks have taken place behind the scenes about resuming the season when the virus has peaked, with the Premier League in talks with Government chiefs about restarting by mid-June.
The EFL would look to follow suit amid major ramifications for promotion and relegation, including for top-two Leeds and West Brom.
As far as Bielsa is concerned, that would mean his players training collectively at Thorp Arch from around mid-May and possibly even earlier were football to resume at the start of June.
That is widely considered the earliest possible restart point, with the prospect of top-level matches next month virtually ruled out.
United’s players, like those at all of England’s top clubs, have been working to individual training plans at home to keep in shape during the lockdown.
Bielsa is in daily contact with his backroom staff, including the fitness, conditioning, medicine and nutrition teams, to ensure his demands are clear.
The Argentine insists upon an elite level of fitness for his players and that has continued during the lockdown.
Nevertheless, the manager has outlined that it is impossible to switch from training individually to playing Championship fixtures shortly afterwards, not least due to the risk of sustaining multiple player injuries.
In other Leeds United news, a flop signing has been tipped to be a completely different beast in the Premier League next season by Danny Mills.