Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa apologises for failing to learn English

Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa has apologised for not conducting his media interviews in English.

Bielsa has proved the language barrier has been no obstacle in leading the club back to the Premier League and establishing them in mid-table this season.

But the 65-year-old Argentinian said: 'I owe an apology to those who have to listen to me, that I haven't learned English.

'One of my big deficits through my passage in English football is not to be able to communicate in the language that everybody speaks.'

Bielsa has been heard shouting instructions to his players in English on matchdays and was asked how he communicated to his players during training.

'In one way it debilitates me, the fact that I haven't been able to learn how to speak English,' he said. 'One of the bigger tools that a coach has is to transmit his message through his words.

'One of the things I've dedicated most time to while I've been a coach is to be able to speak well.

'If there's something I like to do, and it's taken me a long time, is to lend the significance and the definition of words and to say in the most simple way, without losing the richness, of what I want to say.

'Because it's so difficult for me to talk in Spanish, to express my ideas simply and briefly, the decision I took not to do this in another language that wasn't mine.

'That's to say that if I can't say it in Spanish, how can I be able to say it in English? The first one who doesn't believe this explanation is myself, but it's my reality.'

Bielsa has proved hugely successful and equally popular in England since arriving at Elland Road in the summer of 2018.

He has transformed Leeds from a mid-table Championship team into one of the Premier League's shining lights, winning plaudits for his entertaining style of play.

Leeds, currently ninth in the table, will bid to extend their six-game unbeaten league run at Brighton on Saturday after taking five points from their last three matches against Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Bielsa's side have comfortably avoided any relegation fears in their first season back in the top flight in 16 years, but the head coach insisted their intensity levels would not drop.

'Pressure is indispensable,' he added. 'We play better with pressure. With five games left to play, the opinion over the performance level of Leeds, this evaluation can be maintained or improved depending on results.

'What happens in the last five can generate decisive conclusions.'