'Finished' - Pascal Struijk on Marcelo Bielsa’s ruthless Leeds mentality test | OneFootball

“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. This was a big part about how you get that mental strength and resilience from.” Speaking on the Official Leeds United podcast.

“Bielsa was amazing. Very intense, but skills-wise I feel like he’s the best I’ve worked with for developing players. He was very strict on how we performed in training as well.”

“It tests your character,” Dallas said.

“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 summer 2018, and he was regularly pulled into first-team sessions. He played five league games late in the 2019/20 promotion season, then made 27 appearances in the Premier League the following year.

Now 26, often the only natural left-footed centre-back, he stayed after relegation in 2023 and remains key under Daniel Farke. He is the sole current first-team regular from Bielsa’s title winners, with Illan Meslier yet to play this season and Jack Harrison on loan at Fiorentina.

Source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk