'Finished' Pascal Struijk recalls Marcelo Bielsa’s ruthless Leeds United mentality test | OneFootball

Pascal Struijk has described how Marcelo Bielsa’s unforgiving training standards hardened him, with the Leeds United defender sent back to the Under-23s if drills fell short.

“Bielsa was amazing,” Struijk said. “Very intense, but skills-wise I feel like he’s the best I’ve worked with for developing players. “There was this drill and if you didn’t do it well enough, especially as an Under-23s player coming over to train with the first-team, if it was not good enough he'd just say ‘Pascal, finished’, and I’d have to go back to the Under-23s again.” He was speaking on the Official Leeds United podcast.

“It tests your character,” Dallas said. “Bielsa was clever because, in a way, he wasn't doing it to kill your confidence. He wanted to see how you’d react. There were a few that were sent back quite a few times but Pascal wasn’t one of those.”

Struijk was a teenager in the Under-23s when Bielsa arrived in 2018, then featured five times late in the 2019/20 promotion run. He played 27 games in the Premier League as Leeds finished ninth the following season.

Now 26, he has often been the only naturally left-footed centre-back, stayed after relegation in 2023, and remains key under Daniel Farke.

He is the sole first-team player left from Bielsa’s Championship title winners. Illan Meslier remains at the club but has not played a senior match this season, and Jack Harrison is on loan at Fiorentina.

Source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk