The playmaker, the number 10, traditionally required to occupy the space between the midfiand and attack. A role that required little defensive output, but rather to always be available when needed in attack (although this has changed in recent years).
Bielsa like most Argentinian coaches loves them, his sides always had them.
Athletic Bilbao he used Iker Muniain, Ander Herrera, Oscar De Marcos.
Chile he used Mattias Fernandez, Jean Beausejour, Jorge Valdivia.
Argentina he used Seba Veron, Pablo Aimar, Ariel Ortega (but weirdly not Juan Riquelme which baffled Argentina fans given he is regarded as the embodiment of an Enganche over there).
At Lille he used Yassine Benzia and finally and perhaps most famously, at Marseille he realised Dimitri Payet would make a better Enganche then a winger.
Its a position that requires great vision, technique, the ability to hold on to the ball and carry it at pace and great passing ability.
Its also the reason MB no matter how much people want wont play two strikers.
He would have to sacrifice the Enganche to do so and as he explained himself, 2 strikers may impact the teams creativity.
He famously refused to play Hernan Crespo (at the time one of the best strikers in the world) because he couldn't fit him in the side with Gabby Batistuta. If he couldnt find room to play Crespo with Batistuta then i think we can safely say he wont be in a rush to play Eddie and Paddy.
Anyway i digress.
When MB spoke about Samu Saiz he described him as "unique", a player with skills "few players have and the most skilled player in our team".
I found that odd, i wasnt as big a fan of Saiz as some and thought his end product was lacking and i could see why he had spent his entire career as a 2nd tier player.
However, MB saw him as someone who could play a unique role that requires skills few players have, in context with the enganche role you can see what he meant. Saiz could find space in between midfield and attack, he could hold on to the ball and carry it forward at pace and while lacking, on occasion he did have great vision.
And all this brings me on to a few points.
MB didnt want Eddie Nketiah, he had his main striker (whether people like it or not) and as Crespo found out if you cant adapt to a different role you wont play. As Phil Hay said, MB is yet to be convinced by Eddie, until either Eddie adapts to a new role or Paddy gets injured then Nketiah wont play.
Bielsa has been after an Enganche since Saiz left imo, just it wasnt obvious.
When the Dan James links came out, we all naturally assumed he would use the pacey Welsh star as a winger. I dont think that was the plan, i think he would have used him as an Enganche.
If you look at the list of pre Bielsa Enganche players, a lot of them were wingers or traditional cms first, Veron, Herrera, Muniain, De Marcos, Matty Fernandez, Beausejour, Payet and Benzia, none of them were traditional number 10s before MB.
And this summer the club failed to get Bielsa his Enganche for a 2nd window in a row.
Marcelo Bielsa wanted Rangers and former Liverpool winger Ryan Kent.
This is confirmed by media sources and by the fact MB scouted him in person pre season.
And similarly to Dan James, Kent would have been his Enganche imo.
Saiz, small, low centre of gravity, able to carry the ball at pace. You can swap Saiz for Kent because he is exactly the same, only difference is he had largely played as a winger.
Victor Orta wanted Nketiah, the club wanted another striker after Roofe left, the club overruled Bielsa.
That imo was wrong, nothing against Eddie but if MB wanted Kent they should have got Kent.
Frankly they should have got both.
This side is severely lacking that Enganche, that Aimar type player, dare i say it, its missing Samu Saiz.
So how do we fix the clubs mistakes?
Well Tyler Roberts did a decent job, he can carry the ball at pace, but he does lack the vision, technical skill and creativity of a traditional Enganche.
Hernandez? He has the vision, creativity that Roberts lacks but lacks the pace
Bogusz? Kun? Shacks?
A Bielsa side without an Enganche isnt a Bielsa side in its truest terms.
The role is synonymous with Bielsa and Argentinian sides in general, unfortunately it is a unique role that requires unique skills that few players posses.
We have seen Klich have a go, Forshaw, Roberts, Roofe, Hernandez, Shacks and even briefly Stuart Dallas.
Imo it is the single biggest recruitment mistake we made, not just this summer but last January to.
Enganche, playmaker, number 10, Trequartista.
Whatever you want to call it.
We had one when Bielsa arrived, we let him go, that is fine, but we havent replaced him.
Is that what MB wanted? Very unlikely.
So why have the club allowed it to happen?
Will it cost us?
Can we fix it internally?
Will we need to go buy one?
Indeed will the club allow Bielsa to have one given they overruled him once already?
Very long this thread, i enjoyed researching this one tbh
