Motherwell loan star Stuart McKinstry says former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa was “mental” but says he owes the Argentine so much for where he is now.
The man dubbed The Crazy Bielsa was in charge of the Elland Road club when McKinstry arrived there from Fir Park in 2019, aged just 16.
Winger McKinstry, now 20, is on a season-long loan at Motherwell from the Premier League club, with a year of his contract remaining after that.
But he says the time Bielsa spent with him and other youngsters at the Yorkshire club made a huge impact.
He said: “Marcelo Bielsa was mental, I don’t think I could ever come across someone quite like him again!
“But what he did for me and a lot of the other young boys was brilliant.
“He gave us so much time and he put in so much effort into the young boys, when he didn’t have to.
“Even when maybe results weren’t going the first-team’s way, he would still focus on young boys, and that made us feel part of what they were doing.
“We recognised that, respected what he was doing, and that’s why a lot of the boys liked him.
“He wasn’t just doing that for the first-team boys, he was doing it for us as well, and, 100 per cent, he has helped me get to where I am now, and helped my career and everything I’ve learned from the way he played football.
“He was brilliant. He was different. Being a different language was a hard thing to get past, especially me being a guy from Motherwell!”
McKinstry says moving to England at such a young age was difficult for him, but it was a huge opportunity he couldn’t turn down, and it matured him quickly.
“I went down there and I didn’t really have a clue what any of it meant, but I had to get used to it pretty quickly,” he said.
“I couldn’t sit back and say I need help – you had to stay with that, or you fell away and I stayed with it.
“It was mental at the time. Being around the first team at such a big club in the Premier League is something I never really thought I’d be able to do at that stage in my career.
“Looking back now, it was a special time; it’s something I’ll always look back on and be proud of.
“I’m not going to say I’m not looking to do more of that in the future, but to do it at such a young age was something I never thought I’d be capable of.
“I’m proud of what I did when I was there that season and I’m looking forward to seeing what else I can do in the future.”
McKinstry added: “I have 100 per cent benefited from going down there. It was a hard move at the time, being a Motherwell fan and not wanting to leave, but I saw how big an opportunity it was, and how big a club it was.
“It was a hard time, but I got through it. I had a lot of good days and a lot of bad days but to have those days where they were special, it made it all worthwhile, and it was a good time.
“I loved the three years I was there, even if there were some bad days. It made me stronger as a person.
“I went down when I was 16, so I had to mature quickly as a person, and away from family and friends, so it’s not easy.
“But I think that has helped me, on and off the park, and it has only done me benefit in my eyes.”
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