Marcelo Bielsa sparks Everton optimism as he is spotted at Heathrow after flying in for formal talks
Marcelo Bielsa has “sparked optimism” after he was pictured arriving at Heathrow ahead of formal talks over the Everton job, the Daily Mail reports.
The legendary Argentine is thought to be a tricky sell for the Toffees board, despite being the top choice at Goodison Park, as he has doubts over the current squad’s suitability for his methods.
But the former Leeds boss has arrived in London ready for negotiations and the fact that he was prepared to jet in from Brazil has led to renewed hope that a deal might not be out of reach.
The Mail provides photos of the 67-year-old arriving at Heathrow airport and states that it is now up to the club’s board to convince him of the project.
And Sean Dyche has reportedly now become a viable alternative if Bielsa turns down the job, after initial reluctance among the Toffees hierarchy to turn to the former Burnley man.
Serious
You don’t fly nearly 9,000 kilometres if there isn’t a fair chance that you are prepared to take a job, but Bielsa operates in a pretty unique way.
He is well known for putting a huge amount of research and work into assessing clubs before he is even in charge, so this cannot yet be taken as a sign that he will be appointed imminently.
However, if he had entirely written off the current Everton players as unable to reach his standards and fit into his style of play he wouldn’t have boarded the plane so there is certainly now a chance.
Intriguing as he definitely is, it has to be a significant risk to appoint him mid-way through the season with a relegation battle already well and truly set in.
That is all the more the case with less than a week of the only transfer opportunities he would have available before the end of the campaign, which currently sees the Toffees second from bottom of the table.
It is indisputable that he produced something special at Elland Road, but he did so over multiple seasons and built a thoroughly committed unit in the Championship.
And once things headed south for him at Leeds in the Premier League he appeared incapable of arresting the slide, and lost his job just under a year ago.
So even if Everton manage to clear the hurdles between him arriving at the airport and actually taking the job, there would be a lot that remained up in the air.