Profile: Did Lazio dodge a bullet with Marcelo Bielsa's exit?
And yet, for all his tactical innovations and brilliant football, it appears that Bielsa was the last thing Lazio needed two seasons ago, a warning sign for Leeds United fans excited at the prospect of the Argentine taking over the Championship side.
The Capitoline club was going through a rough patch at the time: they had finished eighth in Serie A, sacking Stefano Pioli., the umpteenth manager to struggle for consistency after a promising start. The Ultras were (and still are) hitting the club’s finances hard by refusing to buy season tickets, leaving the two ends ominously empty as Roma thrashed Lazio 4-1 in the last derby of the season.
Never loved by the fans, Claudio Lotito wasn’t popular at national level either, the picture of him in an Italy Coat doing the rounds on social media, as the president’s new-found federation role was bitterly criticised.
Things looked to be picking up when Lazio announced that they had agreed to recruit Marcelo Bielsa. “El Loco” (the Madman) was coming off a decent season with a cash-strapped Marseille, had stunned the world with Chile at the 2010 World Cup and had taken Athletic Bilbao to an unexpected Europa League final appearance in 2012, knocking out Manchester United on the way.
A man known for playing all-action, high-pressure football, Bielsa’s phisolophy was popular in the Spanish-speaking world, and had Europe hooked after his successes with Chile and Athletic.
Yet, a mere two days later, Bielsa was gone, blaming Lotito and sporting director Igli Tare for not backing him in the transfer window despite having promised to do so, and for releasing 18 players.
"My colleagues and I have taken this decision because, after four weeks of work, we did not get any of our seven transfer targets who were explicitly approved in our work plan approved by president Claudio Lotito," he said after leaving.
"It was approved that we would have purchased at least four players before July 5.
"At this date, no purchases had materialised, and despite this the club made our contract together public despite it not being enforceable without the promises being kept."
Well known for running his players ragged in order to press opponents hard, Bielsa needed a big squad, but was instead given a bare-bones operation, a necessity for Lazio ever since previous owner Sergio Cragnotti’s debts had driven them to the brink of extinction.
Lazio’s decision to bring in youth team Coach Simone Inzaghi - who had briefly taken over in an interim role after Pioli’s sacking - smacked of desperation, of plugging in anyone to fill a massive hole. Lotito’s refusal to sign players, on the other hand, made him look cheap and short-sighted.
Bielsa, for his part, looked to have won out, joining Lille the following year, a club on the up with a new, wealthy owner and a 50.000-seater Stadium. The sky seemed to be the limit for the Dogues, who had already won a title in 2011 under ex-Roma Coach Rudi Garcia.
Time would prove these predictions to be completely wrong: Inzaghi turned out to be the best Coach the Aquile have had since Sven-Goran Eriksson. Unlike Pioli or Vladimir Petrovic, he was able to take Lazio to the top of the table… and keep them there the following season.
Perceptive and creative, the former striker must have used all that time he spent on the bench in the Italian capital to learn a thing or two about management. He has gone from being an understudy to being one of the most promising Italian Coaches, with a very bright future ahead of him.
Bielsa, for his part, feels like his career is winding down. He was sacked at Lille after a few disastrous months, leaving Les Nordistes languishing in the relegation zone. His attacking football left them brutally exposed at the back, his signings (remember Thiago Maia, who Kia tried to foist on Inter?) were mostly poor, while new owner Gérard Lopéz was banned from signing any more players in winter because the Ligue 1 had doubts about the origin of his money.
Gone at Christmas, Bielsa left Lille in major trouble, only for experienced hand Christophe Galthier to just about keep them up, though he had to go down the stretch in order to guarnatee survival.
Leeds fans are warned: for a club that has known plenty of false dawns and constant reshuffles, they have only made one Championship playoff, and have put their fans through the ringer since Premier League relegation nearly 15 years ago.
One can only sympathise with the Yorkshiremen’s plight, and hope to God that they get the good Bielsismo: the attacking football, the flair, the use of young players, the brilliant soundbites. Watching Chile and Athletic Bilbao was like a street carnival, it was heaven and never seemed to end.
The flipside, however, is a Coach who tried to establish his principles with Argentina and failed, a man who punched a club worker at Athletic Bilbao and who has never lasted long, wherever he’s been.
We wouldn’t wish that on Leeds fans. They’re the last ones to deserve this kind of instability.