It’s obvious who the next Leeds manager is going to be

Following in the footsteps of Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United was never going to be easy.

Take a look at how things went down at Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson and how they played out under Unai Emery at Arsenal following Arsene Wenger’s exit.

Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia and Co arguably never stood a chance of emulating the great Argentine. However, Daniel Farke has more than steadied the ship and threatens to surpass Bielsa’s legacy.

After all, not even the managerial veteran could make Leeds Premier League regulars. Farke, however, looks as though he’s well on the way to doing that.

It wasn’t all plain sailing at the start, though.

How Farke has engineered a stunning turnaround

This Leeds team have been on a journey under Farke’s tutelage. A failure to get promoted at the first time of asking was viewed as a failure at Elland Road. Quite right too.

However, the hierarchy stayed patient with the German and they are now reaping the rewards.

They bounced back in 2024/25, amassing 100 points, but rather predictably, they found life back in the Premier League to be tough.

Last season was about survival. In the end, they stayed up rather comfortably. Yet, but for a change in formation, this story could have played out very differently.

This time last year, Farke looked destined for the sack. Between October 4th and November 11th, Leeds lost six of their seven games. In that period, they shipped 16 goals.

So, what was the solution? Well, the manager adapted. He was in no mood to be relieved of his duties. The 49-year-old switched from more of a classic 4-3-3 formation to a 3-5-2 or 3-1-4-2 system.

What this achieved was a more compact team. The Whites are far more organised, particularly at the back. After that horror run, Leeds only lost five more matches in the league. Once all was said and done, they survived comfortably.

Their good form was no fluke either. They are currently fifth in the top flight and are unbeaten ahead of a trip to Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime.

Who are the candidates to replace Farke long-term?

Given the run of form Leeds are in right now, it feels ridiculous to be discussing the managerial situation.

Yet, if you want to reach the top, you have to be ruthless. Remember when Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins and hired an unknown Mauricio Pochettino?

Adkins took the Saints from League Two to the Premier League but it was Poch who established them as top-flight regulars.

Likewise at Bournemouth, Gary O’Neil steered the Cherries to a 15th-placed finish but was given his marching orders. They brought in Andoni Iraola to replace him. He is now regarded as one of the best young coaches out there. Like Pochettino, he was also unknown to English audiences at the time.

So, there’s a lesson for Leeds here. Farke has done a remarkable job but they cannot sit still.

Who should they be thinking about to replace him? Well, out of work right now are the likes of Pep Guardiola, Julian Nagelsmann and Antonio Conte. They feel rather far-fetched, so who’s more realistic?

Well, Kieran McKenna is available after leaving Ipswich Town. He has long been regarded as one of the best British coaches out there. In that regard, “the next England manager” in the words of Jamie Carragher, Eddie Howe, is also out of a job.

How about Arne Slot? The Dutchman is out of work after being sacked by Liverpool. A Premier League winner would surely tick a lot of boxes for the 49ers.

The Farke replacement is obvious

When Southampton and Bournemouth got rid of their managers in the hope of taking them to a new level, they opted for unproven coaches, certainly in English football anyway.

Yet, everyone now knows Pochettino and Iraola; they are two of the best coaches in the world.

So, could Leeds opt for a similar route? Well, their long-term replacement for Farke is surely obvious. The great Pablo Hernandez feels like he is destined to manage Leeds one day.

One of the best players in Elland Road’s modern history, Hernandez played over 170 games for Leeds during his playing days. He was a class apart, winning three consecutive Player of the Year awards, voted by his peers as the finest in the squad.

Also boasting a promotion on his CV, few have dazzled the masses at Leeds quite like Pablo has.

Well, as it happens, he’s now blossoming into a top coach too. He’s currently in charge of Spanish second division side Castellon who sit second in the table, unbeaten with six wins and two draws.

Having led the B side to a league title and promotion, he was initially handed the first-team reins on a caretaker basis in September. He led them out of trouble and into the play-offs, although they did fail to secure a place in LaLiga.

Now, that dream looks as though it could be realised. Under Hernandez, Castellon have been one of the best sides in the league and he’s doing it in a sparkling way too, earning rave reviews.

Digging into his success since taking over, Spanish newspaper Marca reports that ‘two proper names’ have forged the style that Hernandez employs. One is Michael Laudrup and the other, rather unsurprisingly, is the legendary Bielsa.

The former attacking midfielder worked closely with Laudrup at Swansea, while he owes the best period of his career to Bielsa during his time in Yorkshire. As a result, Marca note that he has deployed a style that is ‘joyful, direct and attack-minded ‘. That certainly sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

While he has predominantly utilised a 4-2-3-1 formation with Castellon, perhaps rather encouragingly for Leeds, he has also deployed a 3-4-2-1 formation in eight of his 49 league matches in charge.

Providing the Spanish side does earn promotion, it will be very interesting to keep an eye on how Hernandez fares in LaLiga. If he proves successful there, it feels inevitable that he will be in the dugout at Elland Road as Leeds manager in the future.