Leeds United legend reveals Marcelo Bielsa hope, Raphinha transfer latest

Eddie Gray on Marcelo Bielsa and the January transfer window

Eddie Gray has outlined his hope for Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa but has issued a realistic warning about January recruitment.

"I hope he stays as that means the club are being successful," said Gray about Bielsa's long term.

"But that's the thing about football, if you are doing well then the manager stays at the football club.

"But if you get relegated or if things haven't gone well then the manager comes under pressure, every manager in football knows that and that's just how the game is."

Assessing what Leeds might need in the January transfer window, Gray warned: "The club will have a look I would think to see who they can bring in.

"But this is where people have got to be realistic.

"You are not going to go out in the position we are in and buy the best players in the world and you've got to look at it from that situation.

"Then you have got to be looking to bring in players to the football club that are better than what you have got and that's not easy given the budget and where they are playing.

"There's always players around that you can get but it's something that the club will have to think carefully about and Marcelo Bielsa will know the type of player that he wants to come in and play for him and play in the manner that he wants the team to play. There's a lot of things to look at when you talk about buying players.

Aston Villa game called off at Elland Road

Leeds United's game against Aston Villa at Elland Road has been postponed due to the Whites' Covid-19 outbreak.

Not enough time has passed for the cases in the Whites camp, which forced the closure of their Thorp Arch training ground and the postponement of the Boxing Day visit to Liverpool, to clear up and their injury situation also remains severe.

Leeds confirmed last Thursday they had five positive results among first team members and backroom staff, which added to Marcelo Bielsa’s extensive injury list to leave him shy of a big enough squad to travel to Anfield.

Although new government guidelines say that anyone testing positive can leave isolation after seven days if they test negative 24 hours apart on days six and seven, the Villa game has come too soon.

There have been no further positive results in Leeds’ playing squad but there are three new cases among the backroom staff.

Raphinha latest amid misleading reports

A January move to Bayern Munich is unlikely for Leeds United star Raphinha despite press reports in Brazil.

TNT Sports Brasil broke a Christmas Eve story that the winger is due to join the German giants for a sum in the region of £40m, but the YEP understands Bayern Munich are yet to make any interest known to the Premier League outfit.

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