'It was incredible to hear' - Jack Harrison praises Marcelo Bielsa's improving English after Leeds United team talk

Jack Harrison has praised Marcelo Bielsa's efforts to improve his communication with his players after the Leeds United head coach recently delivered a team talk in English.

The 65-year-old Argentine boss made the shock switch to Elland Road in June 2018, taking up his first role in England at Leeds in the Championship.

Since Bielsa's arrival in West Yorkshire he has communicated with players, staff and the media through a translator.

The language barrier, though, has been no issue for the Whites as they ended 16 years of hurt last summer, earning promotion to the Premier League as title winners.

Bielsa has taken the club from the lower echelons of the second division to mid-table in the top flight during his two-and-a-half-year stay.

The Leeds head coach reached a landmark last month in LS11, surpassing the most number of games in charge at one club during his stellar managerial career - a record he previously set at La Liga outfit Athletic Bilbao.

Bielsa has often operated on a rolling yearly contract throughout his career and his time with Leeds has been no different, choosing to assess the situation at the end of each season.

Harrison says that Bielsa has been taking English lessons in a bid to communicate better with his players, even giving a speech to his squad in the language recently.

“He’s been taking English classes and tries to speak more and more English," Harrison told the Qué Golazo Podcast.

"A couple of weeks ago, he actually read one of the speeches in English for the first time. It was incredible just to hear it from him and just to know that he is trying.

"It's been good for me because I get to learn more Spanish and I know a lot more now but I think it is good for him too, to learn English and try to speak with us in English."

Harrison himself speaks Bielsa's native tongue but downplayed his confidence with Spanish, though he is improving all the time.

"It's getting a little bit better," Harrison laughed.

"I studied Spanish in school for a little bit, so I know how to formulate sentences - it's little things like that. The past tense, future and all this.

"My girlfriend is actually Costa Rican, so I understand a lot of Spanish. I get a bit shy when it comes to actually speaking it."