New Leeds United manager Thomas Christiansen has said that he wants to instil a similar philosophy at the club to that held by Johan Cruyff.
Cruyff was at the forefront of the 'Total Football' style of play during his time at the likes of Ajax, Netherlands and Barcelona, prioritising free-flowing and easy-on-the-eye attacking football.
Christiansen was signed by Cruyff for Barcelona as an 18-year-old and went on to win two caps for Spain, and he insists that he will not betray the football values that the legendary Dutchman taught him during their time together.
"Everyone has their way to coach, to perform with the team, but of course he was very important. There were many things that I didn't understand, that he showed us, normal things for me now to understand, but in that moment I couldn't see it because he was a genius - on the pitch, coaching," Christiansen told reporters.
"He's the one who also changed football a little bit and this is one of the things I want to bring to Leeds. All coaches have a different way to see football. The most important is to be effective and to get the results.
"Of course everyone wants to play nice football, attractive, having the ball and scoring a lot of goals. But at the end, if you don't take the points, you're not doing anything. So I have to adapt many situations to Leeds, to the team, to the system, everything that goes around the team. But having my ideas - I will die with my ideas, my philosophy."
Christiansen succeeds Garry Monk at Elland Road and becomes Leeds's eighth different manager since May 2014.
Barney Corkhill
