SOCCER
The millionaire salary required for Bielsa to manage the Mexico National Team
The Argentine rejected a multi-million pound offer from Everton in the Premier League.
Marcelo Bielsa is one of the strongest candidates to take over the Mexican National Team. The former Leeds United coach is a genuine option and it is in the hands of the National Team Committee to give the go ahead regarding handing him the project.
Bielsa astronomical salary is not what it appears to be
According to information from El Universal, Bielsa would ask for $10 million a year to take over the Mexican team. In fact, the same source mentions that this salary is far from what his compatriot Gerardo Martino received, who earned $3 million a year.
It must be said, however, that while at Leeds United, Bielsa paid his own technical staff out of his wages and that they were employed by him, and not the club. It is assumed, therefore, that a similar arrangement would happen were he to take control of the Mexican National side.
Race for the manager role
Miguel Herrera, Guillermo Almada, Marcelo Bielsa himself and now the Argentine Diego Cocca are the strongest candidates that the National Selection Committee have on the table. In fact, there is talk that Jaime Lozano has declined to be an assistant to any of them and Ignacio Ambriz may enter the equation.
Of the aforementioned technical directors, Cocca, Ambriz and Almada are currently in work, managing Tigres, Toluca and Pachuca respectively. However, El Piojo and Bielsa are free agents.
Bielsa flew to England over the past week to speak to Everton, who had just sacked Frank Lampard. However, negotiations broke down after it was revealed that the Argentine coach did not want to take charge of the first team until the summer, instead spectacularly proposing that he manage the youth team until then while an interim coach did the job of the first team.