Stuart McKinstry knows he’s unlikely to ever come across a man like former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa again. McKinstry is currently plying his trade at boyhood club Motherwell after joining the Scottish outfit on loan over the summer and it seems he is starting to catch the eye.
After starting the Scottish Premiership season down the Fir Park pecking order, McKinstry has managed to work his way into Steven Hammell’s starting XI and now looks to be a key man for the club moving forward. He bagged his first two goals for the club last month, against Rangers and Aberdeen, and his performances have been enough to see him named the club’s player of the month for October.
McKinstry has also been named in the Scotland Under-21s squad for their upcoming friendly with Iceland. As such, the 20-year-old winger, who made his debut for Leeds in November 2021 against Tottenham Hotspur, has been reflecting on his journey so far.
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McKinstry made the move to Elland Road from Motherwell back in 2019 and spent a couple of seasons as a regular in the club’s youth ranks. Bielsa looked his way twice last season, though, and he believes the impact the Argentine had on his fledging career was remarkable.
“Marcelo Bielsa was mental, I don’t think I could ever come across someone quite like him again,” he told the Daily Record. “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!”
He 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.”
McKinstry’s current deal at Elland Road will expire at the end of the 2022-23 season and the Whites will be watching his performances north of the border closely as they come to a decision on his future.
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