Leeds United's players could've played for Marseille or Athletic Bilbao, claims Marcelo Bielsa

Fulham made the mistake last summer of tearing up the team who took them through the play-offs but Marcelo Bielsa’s opinion of the players serving him at Elland Road suggests he would not be minded to do the same.

Leeds are 10 games away from promotion, with tonight’s trip to Reading set to take their fixture list into single figures, and they have no promise yet of an end to their 15-year exile in the Football League but a season in which United hold 70 points after 36 matches has dramatically altered the reputation of players who struggled in the same division last season.

Bielsa claimed his knowledge of the Premier League was insufficient to allow him to decide who amongst his squad would be suited to it if Leeds go up but he paid them a big compliment by saying his crop were good enough for the Athletic Bilbao and Marseille teams he managed earlier in his career.

The 63-year-old took Bilbao to the finals of the Europa League and Copa Del Rey in 2012 and put Marseille in the running for France’s top-flight title during his only full season in charge, the 2014-15 term.

His senior professionals at Bilbao included Javi Martinez, Ander Herrera and Fernando Llorente while Dimitri Payet, Benjamin Mendy and Michy Batshuayi played under him for Marseille.

Only three of the players on permanent contracts at Leeds - Patrick Bamford, Pablo Hernandez and Adam Forshaw - have completed meaningful stints in the Premier League. Goalkeeper Kiko Casilla played top-flight football in Spain while Pontus Jansson did likewise in Italy with Torino.

Asked if he believed many of United’s players could make the jump, Bielsa said: “I haven’t analysed the Premier League so I’m not ready to make this kind of comparison now.

“But I can tell you that any player who plays for Leeds now could play without any problem in the two European teams I trained for some time, Marseille and Bilbao. I can make this comparison because I know both teams.

“As I haven’t analysed the Premier League I can’t give you a certain answer.”

Bielsa’s attacking philosophy has clicked emphatically in the Championship but Leeds deferred to the quality of their defence on Saturday, helped through a 1-0 win at Bristol City by strong resistance across their back four.

Jansson and Liam Cooper have developed a highly-effective understanding at centre-back since Jansson stepped into replace the injured Gaetano Berardi and Bielsa said: “From an individual point of view they are playing at a very high level, both of them.

“They are players with many skills and skilled players don’t have problems playing with each other. They’re the defensive structure for a team who attack a lot.”