MARCELO BIELSA is finally set to sign an £8million-a-year deal to stay at Leeds – as they landed a plum opener at Liverpool.
The Premier League fixtures revealed yesterday pitted them against the champions at Anfield next month.
Marcelo Bielsa is finally set to sign a new £8m-a-year contract at Leeds
Bielsa led Leeds back to the big time after a 16-year exile but fans feared the worst as his contract expired.
Now he is set to pen a bumper new contract – taking his salary from £6m to £8m – until 2022.
Leeds chief exec Angus Kinnear said: “I just need to find an appropriate window to get the paper in front of him and for him to sign it.
“I know fans are nervous, it makes me a bit nervous, but I don’t think there is any reason to be.
“Marcelo is absolutely focused on training, but like last season where I know everyone was nervous about the contract, it is about him getting the time to focus on signing it.
“We have conversations daily and it tends to be about the minutiae of the preparations for the season rather than his contract.”
After falling at the play-off hurdle the season before, the 64-year-old Argentine took Leeds to the title at the second time of asking.
They sealed the championship in the penultimate game of the season at Derby, where they were charged after their players celebrated with flares at an empty Pride Park.
Leeds have accepted the charge, with the incident coming on the same day director of football Victor Orta mocked the Rams by celebrating with binoculars.
This followed ‘Spygate’, in which Bielsa admitted to snooping on Frank Lampard’s Derby training the season before.
The Premier League opening day fixtures for 2020-21 have been revealed
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk