After a great first season in England, the Danish manager is well regarded.
Leeds United’s goal this summer, regardless of division, will be to recruit a new manager to ensure that they can improve on a catastrophic season.
Leeds now have Sam Allardyce in charge, but he was employed on a temporary basis to keep the Yorkshire club in the Premier League, and there would undoubtedly be outrage if he was appointed permanently.
Jon Dahl Tomasson was mentioned as a possible replacement for Javi Gracia after his dismissal, and the Elland Road club might recover the identity they developed under Marcelo Bielsa by signing the Blackburn Rovers manager this summer.
Last month, Football Insider revealed that those at Leeds were impressed with Tomasson’s work in his debut season at Ewood Park and saw him as the next Bielsa at Elland Road.
While the more drastic option for Allardyce was taken in a desperate attempt to keep Leeds up, it seems likely that Leeds could revisit a move for the 46-year-old this summer when their future is more clear, especially if they rate him as highly as reports claim.
Under Tomasson, Blackburn nearly lost out on the Championship playoffs this season, averaging 1.5 points per game in the second division, while the Lancashire club also just missed out on an FA Cup semi-final after losing late against Sheffield United.
When Blackburn were third in the table early in the season, EFL analyst James Allcott praised Tomasson’s “fast-paced, high press” style.
“Blackburn’s exciting pressing style has been very fun to watch this season because of the number of goals and chances it yields,” he remarked. They play every game at a million miles per hour and have completely dominated their opponents thus far.”
This style of play will undoubtedly remind Leeds fans of Bielsa’s tactics when he took over at Leeds, with the Yorkshire club routinely outrunning and aggressively pressing their opponents.
After recent seasons in which that approach has been abandoned in favor of a less adventurous one, which has done little to alleviate Leeds’ defensive issues, fans would undoubtedly welcome the restoration of this mentality at Elland Road.
Tomasson had been connected with Feyenoord in the aftermath of Arne Slot’s prospective departure to the Premier League, but now that he has announced he will stay, Leeds have an excellent opportunity to sign the Danish manager before his reputation climbs even further.
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