The questions Rio Ferdinand should have asked when Leeds United's Marcelo Bielsa came up in Newcastle United debate

Straying anywhere near Bielsa’s ability to convince ‘established’ players to buy into his methods and regime was always going to provoke a similar reaction to the one Ferdinand received from the travelling Leeds fans at Old Trafford earlier this season, even if he tacked on compliments in a search for balance.

Ferdinand’s suggestion was that winning over ‘desperate for a career’ lower-league players who will ‘do anything for you’ is one thing, but getting established players to change their mindsets and daily physical output was quite another.

There’s certainly something to be said about the mindset the group of players Bielsa inherited at Leeds exhibited when they wholeheartedly welcomed his approach and threw themselves into new, uncomfortable ways, but the history of the EFL is littered with players who did not possess the mentality to reach the top. That has often been the very thing preventing a player from becoming established. And, given all we hear about the strict, extreme fitness regimes and the sacrifices made by modern-day machines like Erling Haaland, is it really such a stretch to believe they would submit themselves to Murderball once or twice a week?

That’s before we get to the point that Bielsa has managed a who’s who of Argentine greats, including Gabriel Batistuta, and was one of the key reasons behind Spanish international striker Rodrigo’s decision to swap Mestalla Stadium for Elland Road.

Of course, there are certain egos in football for whom Bielsa’s ways might prove problematic but why would that be a stumbling block when discussing his suitability for a job at Newcastle United, where there are few, if any, players of a profile big enough to warrant prima donna behaviour?

If the new owners of Newcastle United throw a bone to the broadcast journalists setting up permanent residence outside the training ground and sack Steve Bruce before the weekend, it is a manager or head coach they will seek first, not an array of big-name players.

And if, in some hypothetical world, Bielsa was that man, the recruitment strategy would presumably be built around players suitable for his methods.