Marcelo Bielsa explains value of Raphinha's outrageous dribbling skill for Leeds United after Brazilian winger nutmegs Gary Cahill

When the great Maradona passed away, Bielsa lamented that players who show their brilliance in one on one moments were becoming a thing of the past.

"There is something that makes me really sad," he said.

"That players like Maradona and Messi who show their individual brilliance through dribbling, they are versions of players who stop repeating themselves. That's to say if for example if Mbappe is the best player in the world right now, his art is not comparable to Maradona or Messi."

He ventured that the lack of time modern day children spend with a football at their feet, learning how to trick and flick their way past an opponent in games with no officials and no laws, is a reason why the sport is becoming a less attractive one. Dribbling is learned but not taught, he said.

"To dribble is to trick your opponent, show him you will do something and do another, it's something you can't teach," said the Whites' Argentine head coach.

"It belongs to every player and the talent they have. Traditionally how a player would learn to play was without any rules and with many hours, with a lot of situations to resolve. Everyone would find their own solution. Nowadays kids don't spend as much time with the ball, what they learn is not by themselves but it's transmitted to them. For me football as a creative spectacle every time has less beauty. As time goes on it's not that the quality decreases it's just there are fewer good players. Football in general hasn't been able to develop this so it becomes more efficient."

But on deadline day last summer Leeds United signed a player who is proving more than a handful for Premier League defences when the ball is on his toes.

Brazilian winger Raphinha has steadily grown into a genuinely exciting prospect, still aged only 24, with the ability to take on a marker and leave him for dead. He did just that in the game against Crystal Palace on Monday, nutmegging Gary Cahill with an outrageous piece of skill and forcing the veteran centre-half to foul him.

It wasn't the first eye-catching flick the former Rennes man has produced and with his confidence soaring thanks to a number of stellar performances, not to mention four goals and four assists, it won't be the last.

He doesn't rely on his prowess in one versus one moments, Raphinha has shown he can thread a pass through a backline and is forging good relationships on the pitch with Luke Ayling and Patrick Bamford that allow him to contribute to Leeds' patented passing moves.

But the individual skill possessed by players like Raphinha, along with others in the Leeds squad including Jack Harrison, Ian Poveda and Helder Costa, allows Bielsa's team to unlock stubborn defences and when you play such an attacking style of football, you meet a lot of those.

"The dribble is always the most dangerous thing for a defence," he said on Monday when asked about Raphinha's dribbling.

"It resolves all the problems that arise when a team sits back.

"It's an alternative to the combination play and it's difficult to find in some players. Of course we desire a player who can dribble and resolve the situation without having to combine too much."