Jesse Marsch, Ernesto Valverde and Carlos Corberán will be among the candidates at Leeds United should there be a managerial change this summer.
Marcelo Bielsa has five months left on his contract at Elland Road and has traditionally left it until the summer to confirm his future, with the club happy with the Argentinian coach and hoping he can stay for a fifth season.
Should Leeds need to seek a replacement, the club will hope a new manager can continue in the vein of Bielsa’s four years in Yorkshire, during which time the club returned to the Premier League after a 16-year hiatus.
Marsch, Valverde and Corberán could be joined by others in contention in the event of a change. All three have similar football philosophies to Bielsa but are at differing stages of their careers.
American-born Marsch, 48, has a similar style of play to Bielsa developed over the last six years at Red Bull clubs. He started at New York Red Bulls before two seasons at Red Bull Salzburg, where he twice won the Austrian Bundesliga.
His recent spell with RB Leipzig ended in December but he is expected to be under consideration among clubs across Europe in 2022.
Valverde succeeded Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao in 2013 and spent four years at the club before heading to Barcelona, where he won two La Liga titles. The 57-year-old Spaniard was under consideration at Manchester United when they were searching for an interim manager earlier in the season.
Corberán, meanwhile, was part of Bielsa’s backroom staff at Leeds and was promoted to first-team coach when the Argentinian arrived. He has been at Huddersfield Town since the start of last season.
While Leeds want Bielsa to stay, he has previously waited until the summer before signing. When the club were promoted to the Premier League, chief executive Angus Kinnear had the paperwork ready to sign and was waiting for the manager to find time around the pre-season schedule to complete the formalities.
Leeds sporting director Victor Orta has not made approaches to potential candidates, but often speaks to managers about players as part of his network. Former Granada coach Diego Martinez is another coach he knows from their time together at Sevilla.
