Jesse Marsch’s father worked on the assembly line of a Wisconsin tractor factory for 32 years. A younger Marsch is doing a different kind of building this summer. If Leeds represented an uneasy compromise at the end of last season, with players moulded by Marcelo Bielsa managed by someone who was not the idiosyncratic Argentinian, now they look like fielding the sides of Marsch. He is constructing a new team.
He is shaping up as Leeds’ American revolutionary; partly by choice and partly by circumstances. The sale of Kalvin Phillips and the imminent exit of Raphinha will strip them of their two best players, a £100 million pair whose quality equips them to play for Champions League clubs while, without the Brazilian’s goals, Leeds would probably be a Championship outfit.
