Leeds signed Koch from Freiburg after moving on from their pursuit of Ben White, with the German identified and snapped up quickly.

 

The defender has established himself as one of the first names on Bielsa’s team-sheet and has played each minute of Leeds’ first nine Premier League games thus far.

 

 

Koch had offers to move to other clubs in Germany, but Grifo conceded that it was not a shock that he instead decided to move to England and play for Leeds rather than opt for the safer option of staying in his homeland.

 

The winger admitted that playing under Bielsa was one of the main attractions for his former team-mate.

 

 

Grifo told The Athletic: “It’s typical of his character that he didn’t opt for the safe option to stay in the Bundesliga but challenged himself by going to England.

 

“He wanted to get a taste of Bielsa, the outstanding tactician.”

 

 

The Freiburg defender believes Koch is already a brilliant organiser at the back and is certain that he is on the road to becoming a world-class centre-back in the future.

 

“He’s very vocal at the back and he loves to have the game in front of him.

 

“He’s an outstanding organiser.

 

“His improvement is incredibly rapid, including in the national team, and he’s on a path to become a world-class player, a monster centre-back.”

 

Koch faces competition for his spot in the side from Diego Llorente, once the Spaniard returns from injury.