MARCELO BIELSA is set to sign a bumper £8million-a-year deal after taking Leeds to the Premier League as champions following a 16-year wait.
The pay rise — from his current salary of £6m which is more than double what England boss Gareth Southgate earns — will keep the Argentine at Elland Road until at least 2022.
Marcelo Bielsa is set to be rewarded with a huge new contractCredit: PA:Press Association
Talks on Bielsa’s future are planned and SunSport understands only minor points need addressing before the 64-year-old puts pen to paper.
Leeds chief executive Angus Kinnear said: “Victor Orta, Andrea Radrizzani and I will be straight in with Marcelo next week and talking about plans for next season.
“He has a review, he knows the direction he wants to take the club in and it will go from things we need on the playing side, right through to his own arrangements as well we need to resolve.”
Bielsa’s current contract is due to expire at the end of this week but, although the club have the option of another 12 months
The Whites boss put his own future to one side so he could concentrate fully on gaining promotion.
There were doubts that if he failed to get Leeds back up for a second time after last year’s late collapse he might walk away.
But Leeds majority owner Radrizzani and director of football Orta were a confident he would recommit once he had achieved his target.
That new contract is now all but a done deal.
Bielsa takes his side to Derby today knowing Leeds can now look forward to a £110m Prem windfall. But to stay up his club know they will have to generate a lot more money.
Radrizzani sold a ten per cent cent stake in Leeds to the investment entity behind American football giants San Francisco 49ers in 2018.
The Americans are now expected to want to add to that investment while there is also interest from Qatar Sports Investments which controls Paris Saint–Germain.
The Italian said: “We need support to build the club bigger than we could with our own resources.”
Last October chief exec Kinnear also revealed plans to increase Elland Road’s capacity from 37,890 to 50,000 once a Prem place was secured.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
