Leeds United might have fallen short of the European places during that sensational 2020/21 season but, still, an eventual ninth place finish was testament to the miracles Marcelo Bielsa frequently spun at Elland Road.
Patrick Bamford became one of the Premier League’s most lethal marksmen.
Luke Ayling, Gianni Alioski and Stuart Dallas excelled in the top flight too. Kalvin Phillips has been linked with a return to Leeds this month but it is telling that, since Bielsa rode off into the sunset, the 2021 England Player of the Year has not come close to reaching those same heights.
Over in Germany, Mainz are in the midst of a similarly unexpected rise, inspired by another talismanic tactician.
Benefitting from something of a ‘perfect storm’ – Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Stuttgart have struggled for consistency while Eintracht Frankfurt lost star man Omar Marmoush to Manchester City – Mainz are in the vertigo-inducing position of third place with only eight games remaining.
European football expert Andy Brassell puts Mainz’s remarkable season down to the brilliance of head coach Bo Henriksen. A coach who took over at the MEWA Arena when Mainz looked destined for relegation in 2024, and has them on the brink of Champions League qualification for the very first time just thirteen months later.
Arguably no one epitomises Mainz’s transformation from underachievers to overachievers, meanwhile, than an ‘enormously talented midfielder’ who came within a whisker of becoming one of Daniel Farke’s first Leeds United additions in the summer of 2023.
Nadiem Amiri has been ‘sensational’ after Leeds United move collapsed
By his own admission, Leeds United ‘really wanted’ Nadiem Amiri two years back.
Leeds reportedly agreed a £5 million deal with Bayer Leverkusen, Amiri spotted taking in the sights and sounds of West Yorkshire before eventually opting to stay in Germany for family reasons.
It was a decision which eventually saw Amiri join forces with Henriksen. One which paved the way for his return to the Germany squad for this month’s internationals, and could yet see Amiri captain Mainz in the Champions League next season.
To say few saw this coming when Amiri was being farmed out on loan to Genoa last year would be an understatement. It’s not quite up there with Kalvin Phillips’ evolution from Championship also-ran to England regular, but it’s not too far off.
“What [Henriksen] has managed to get out of his players is absolutely extraordinary,” Brassell says via the On the Continent podcast, labelling Amiri and star striker Jonathan Burkhardt as the duel driving forces behind this top-four charge.
“A big part of it is their two best players, who are surfing the absolute crest of a wave. The key player really is Nadiem Amiri, who is just an enormously talented midfielder. The captain now of Mainz and he really lost his way towards the end at Leverkusen.
“He’s gradually found his way at Mainz. He’s settled off the pitch as well and that has really helped.
“Now, his form is putting him back in the Germany squad. He’s that good. You can’t keep him out of the Germany squad because he has been absolutely sensational.”
Leeds still want a number ten but Amiri is Champions League-bound
A prodigiously gifted footballer, Nadiem Amiri went from being one of the rising stars of German football to looking like a classic case of wasted potential, and back again.
Now 28, the five-time international has matured both on the pitch and off it. He’s scored seven goals from his attacking midfield role too, many of those trademark fizzing strikes from outside the box.
See, for instance, his late clincher in the recent 3-1 win at Borussia Monchengladbach.
As such, with two months remaining, the 2024/25 campaign is already the most prolific of Amiri’s career as well as the most successful.
“He’s a player who likes to take on responsibility. He’s always wanted that since he was young,” Amiri’s former Hoffenheim coach Markus Gisdol tells Sport1. “Nadiem has always been self-confident. And now he’s also wearing the captain’s armband.
“That’s given him a few extra percent of motivation and influence, which is good for him. He’s increasingly growing into a leadership role.
“He brings positive energy to the pitch and works with full commitment for the team – both in attack and defence. And that’s exactly what makes Nadiem so special. These qualities fit perfectly with Mainz’s style of play.”
Leeds United are expected to return to the market for a number ten this summer. Viktoria Plzen playmaker Pavel Sulc is the latest to be mentioned by the media, after the likes of Emi Buendia, Alvyn Sanches and Edouard Spertsyan.
The Amiri ship looks to have sailed for good now, however, with Champions League football on the horizon.
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