Marcelo Bielsa: Chelsea Must Get Athletic Bilbao Boss

Marcelo Bielsa is a must-sign as manager for Chelsea following Athletic Bilbao's stunning win over Manchester United—especially if Roman Abramovich is serious about winning the UEFA Champions League.

For those who never knew about Bielsa or his Athletic team's scintillating performances in La Liga this season, their brilliant 3-2 victory over the Red Devils in the UEFA Europa League at Old Trafford finally brought the Bilbao club to the world's attention.

Like a lot of Los Leones' matches this term, it was a game which highlighted Bielsa's tactical brilliance, as the way his team created wave after wave of attack—and harassed the opposition when not in possession—left three-time European Cup winners United unable to cope with Athletic.

Whilst different in his footballing style to Pep Guardiola—who took lessons from Bielsa when the latter was Argentina manager—the Bilbao boss has his team not only playing FC Barcelona kind of football, but imitating it to near perfection (minus the tiki-taka passing).

Guardiola has in fact been linked with the Chelsea job, as Abramovich seeks a boss who plays open, attractive football—the kind that not only wins matches in style, but also wins Champions League titles.

However, it seems he is set to snub the Blues and renew his Barca contract.

And rightly so, given the Camp Nou club are still dominating the world (apart from Spain, where they are letting Real Madrid have a turn at winning La Liga).

Chelsea owner Abramovich pursued and signed Andre Villas-Boas from FC Porto because of the way in which his team played football, his attention to detail and the fact that his way of football thinking is what gets European results, as proved by Porto's Europa League triumph last season.

But of course, his time failed mainly due to his age and lack of experience—senior figures like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba weren't too keen on taking non-negotiable orders from a man, who never was a player, and just a few years older than them.

Therefore, Marcelo Bielsa would be the best option for Chelsea.

He effectively is an Andre Villas-Boas type of coach, but he's older, more experienced, is a better man-manager and thus commands more respect—a polished AVB in essence.

Bielsa—or 'El Loco' (crazy) as he's known in Spain for his unorthodox management style and incredibly detailed outlook on the game—could finish off, and improve, the work the young Portuguese tactician started.

After all, Abramovich initially sought, and is still seeking, for his Chelsea team to have that open, expansive, domineering style of play on the pitch.

Villas-Boas introduced it to the Blues players, and Bielsa could be the one to fully hammer it home to them with an improved, Barca-style version.

The 56-year-old has executed that style in his tactics throughout his management career, and has had great success with it.

He took Argentina to an Olympic gold medal at Athens 2004, after taking them to the Copa America final.

And of course in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with Chile, Bielsa's team impressed the world as they triumphantly stormed into the second round, being somewhat unlucky to lose to Brazil.

It was also the tournament that really launched the careers of Alexis Sanchez, Gary Medel, Mauricio Isla and Jean Beausejour.

And now on the club stage he's doing it with Athletic Bilbao, turning the likes of Fernando Llorente, Ander Herrera, Iker Muniain and Markel Susaeta into some of the best attacking players in Europe.

In defence he's also boosting his player's games, turning Javi Martinez into an even more burgeoning star, and making the likes of Andoni Iraola a top-rate full-back.

In a Chelsea squad lacking, amongst many other things, real stand-out players—barring Juan Mata and perhaps Daniel Sturridge—Bielsa's proven ability in his tactics and man-management to bring the best out of his men could be key.

Young Romelu Lukaku, who never got a chance under Villas-Boas, is exactly the type of striker Bielsa likes in his team. 

The 18-year-old Belgium international is a Fernando Llorente-type of forward—a big, domineering striker with the right somatotype to out-muscle defenders, attack the ball and hit it with great shot power.

Given he has the finishing ability, as proven by his time at RSC Anderlecht (41 goals in 98 games), there's no reason why Lukaku couldn't succeed under Bielsa.

And there could even be a place for the old guard to come back in the team.

Frank Lampard is the type of goal-seeking playmaker Bielsa likes in his side—the man who plays on the edge of the final third and can join in the attacking wave, setting up a four-pronged forward-line.

And on the wing there could still be a place for Florent Malouda, who's in-stepping style and proven finishing ability would be perfect for that positionally interlinking front-line Bielsa likes to use.

Players like Jose Bosingwa and Ashley Cole could also still have a place with their ability going forward, while Michael Essien is perfectly suited to defensively disciplined holding midfielder Bielsa needs to make his side work.

A lot of the stars in the Blues side are geared towards playing positive football—it's just that they played in a slightly less than ideal system this season, and refused to compromise with their previous coach.

Should Marcelo Bielsa take over—even these current, criticised Chelsea stars could become good again.

If El Loco wins the Europa League this season—increasingly likely seen as they gave the mighty Manchester United a masterclass in how to play football—there'll be nothing to suggest his methods wouldn't work at a higher level.

And if he wins the tournament with that Bilbao side, limited in his transfer and wage budget and strict Basque-only policy on player recruitment, the potential for a team of his with almost unlimited resources could be phenomenal.

Seen as Jose Mourinho is demanding £12 million a year and the chance to bring Cristiano Ronaldo with him if he was to go back to Chelsea, it seems the likelihood of the former Blues legend returning to the Stamford Bridge hotseat is next to zero.

Therefore, there really is no other option than Marcelo Bielsa.

Yes he doesn't know English, and the hype-parallels between him and the ill-fated Andre Villas-Boas are slowly being drawn, but who else is there who can take charge?

Brendan Rodgers is working wonders at Swansea City, but has his side done what Chelsea couldn't do and thrash Manchester United at Old Trafford?

And as for the likes of David Moyes, Harry Redknapp, Rafael Benitez and Sven Goran Eriksson, can they really be compared to Marcelo Bielsa?

Should he want it, a huge wage, massive transfer budget, and the chance to make Chelsea great again is waiting for the Athletic Bilbao manager.