Leeds United man reveals intimate details of new coaching relationship and Javi Gracia presence

The young Whites were victorious by three goals to nil on Monday evening as Derby County left York’s LNER Community Stadium with nothing to show for their efforts. Leeds’ Under-21s – now led by former Sevilla youth team coach Paco Gallardo, previously co-caretaker alongside Michael Skubala – are currently top of Premier League 2 Division 2 by three points with just four matches remaining.

Assistant Michal Pujdak spoke at the final whistle, standing in for lead development coach Gallardo, explaining his new working relationship with the Spaniard, as well as first-team manager Javi Gracia.

"Paco is a great coach, he's coached in the second league in Spain, he's got vast experience of the game as a coach and technical director so our relationship is great. I'm learning from him, we're bouncing off each other. I've been at the club a long time and I've always been given a lot of responsibility so it feels like Paco is that person who'll trust me to do the job and it's great to work with him.”

Pujdak is into his fourth season at Leeds, having worked his way up from youth development lead coach to become Under-21s assistant. Formerly of Grimsby Town, Hull City, Manchester City and Manchester United, Pujdak has worked alongside Mark Jackson, Michael Skubala and now Gallardo in the junior setup.

"Every coach is different, it's difficult to put a finger on [how Paco is different]. Obviously with his Spanish background there is a lot of emphasis on being intelligent with the ball and without the ball. We try to help the lads understand how we can manipulate games, so for example today you've seen towards the end of the game when we were leading we wanted to see the game out and be intelligent when there's a clear opportunity to go and attack - we still want to do that. It's great to be able to work with coaches with different mentalities because it helps us all develop in different contexts,” he added.

Pujdak is a UEFA A Licence coaching badge holder and recently completed a Masters of Business Administration at the prestigious James Lind Institute. The Under-21s assistant was delighted to see first-team head coach Javi Gracia in attendance, along with members of his backroom team, at the youngsters’ fixture on Monday evening.

"At Leeds, it is clear that there is a real thirst for young players to progress from the academy to the first-team setting, it's fantastic to see Javi here in the stands. He's been able to see some really good performances today from the lads who are knocking on the door and trying to put their name forward,” Pujdak said.