Marcelo Bielsa has encouraged talk of Athletic Bilbao’s B team Coach Cuco Ziganda replacing him in the summer, commenting that ‘he is very capable’.
Bielsa is speculated as leaving Athletic in the summer after a difficult second season with the Basques and Bilbao Athletic’s Ziganda is rumoured to be up as his replacement.
Whilst Ziganda commented this morning that he would be ‘happy whatever the case next season’, Bielsa has promoted the possibility of being succeeded by the 46-year-old former Osasuna and Xerez Coach.
“Bilbao Athletic have a very faithful representation of Ziganda’s ideas,” Bielsa told reporters this afternoon.
“They play attacking football, practical, simple, easy to observe and assimilate, where the needs of the game are absorbed naturally, with good treatment of the ball, dynamism and there is a relationship between what the player can do and what the Coach is proposing.
“All this enhances their work and of course, in proportion, I see him as very capable.”
Bielsa then turned his attention to his future, but only as far as Athletic’s next game, the Friday trip to Celta Vigo, who have just won their last two games on the bounce.
“The last two rounds are valid. You cannot ignore the recent past of a team because it is easier for you to repeat what has happened too, whilst you have to validate your chances and the capabilities that the team has.
“We are required to do so, at a level more so than before.
“A win will not guarantee League survival because it is a mathematical question. Every weekend there is a mathematical equation that indicates the number of points needed so as to not be compromised.”
