Patrick Bamford makes Marcelo Bielsa training admission as Leeds United touch down in Australia

Leeds take on Brisbane Roar, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace in Australia over the next two weeks as their new season preparations continue.

Jesse Marsch and his squad arrived safely on Australia’s east coast on Monday but were straight into training the following day as several members of the squad tried to shake their jet-lag.

Several events and public relations engagements have been organised for the Whites’ trip and first on the agenda – after checking out the beach – was a question and answer session with Joe Gelhardt and Patrick Bamford, hosted by former United striker Michael Bridges.

Speaking to fans in Gold Coast, Bamford and Gelhardt discussed the season to come, their fitness and adapting to new methods and regimes under Marsch.

"I think the main thing with any pre-season is getting fit,” said Bamford. “It’s nice to come back to Australia. I think last time we didn’t actually get to see too much of it just because of the way we were training and stuff,” he added.

Bamford was of course referencing Leeds’ tour Down Under in 2019 when previous head coach Marcelo Bielsa was still at the helm, and the club had not yet gained promotion to the Premier League.

The Argentine manager is renowned for being an especially demanding taskmaster during pre-season, therefore it is little surprise to hear Bamford’s admission that full focus was on the work conducted on the training pitch.

During that tour, Leeds faced Manchester United and Western Sydney Wanderers in New South Wales, beating the latter 2-1 but losing out 4-0 to the Red Devils.

This time around, United have Brisbane Roar, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace on the agenda before completing their pre-season schedule at home to Cagliari at the end of the month.