Chelsea’s Lewis Baker was once the most promising up and coming player. Now the Blues have loaned him to Marcelo Biesla’s Leeds to set him back on course.
Lewis Baker was once the crown jewel of the loan army. He was playing great football while at Vitesse and was turning up big for the youth national team. Last season, he was ready for something more challenging.
But for whatever reason, Chelsea opted to loan him to Championship side Middlesbrough. And though he initially started there, he quickly fell out of favor before falling out of the picture entirely. In what should have been an easy loan in one of his most pivotal development years, he failed.
But Chelsea has not given up yet. Baker has now been loaned to another Championship side; Leeds United. More interestingly is the manager Baker will play under. Marcelo Biesla has taken control of Leeds and Baker is set for a bootcamp and education that, if he listens, will reboot his career in a big way.
Biesla, frankly, revolutionized football. He was a pioneer that paved the way for the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, and even Antonio Conte. He taught the world what a modern pressing system should look like and how to use video to plan for matches.
But Biesla has fallen off in recent years. What was once revolutionary has now become commonplace. Furthermore, Biesla is notoriously difficult. He quit Marseille after a season due to conflicts with management. It only took him two days to quit Lazio. His project at Lille was well supported but it imploded within months. Now he is at Leeds who has made him their highest paid manager ever as he looks to set his career back onto the revolutionary path it once was on.
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Biesla’s system is incredibly demanding. He often uses a 3-3-3-1 but is not attached to any type of formation. But regardless of the shape, the players will need to press more aggressively than perhaps any other team in the world. The demands and physical strain of a Biesla team are so high that his teams often fall off in form towards the end of the season because there is simply no more to give.
This incredible toll requires a great deal of buy in. That is why Biesla generally prefers young players who are willing to do anything to impress. This is where Baker comes in. Technically, Baker already has all of the talent needed to succeed for Biesla. But he has to buy into it.
Biesla will suffer no fools nor any criticisms. If he plays Baker, he will expect the Englishman to fight like a madman from minute one to minute 90, from match day one to match day 46. Baker will know how to perform in multiple formations and often they will change match to match. It will be a bootcamp and a doctorate at the same time.
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If Baker buys in, he will return to Chelsea immensely tougher and more knowledgeable of the game. Biesla is the man who launched dozens to hundreds of careers through his tactics. Baker’s could be next, but only if he throws himself into the hard work ahead of him.