Laurens De Bock says he did not have to leave Leeds United this summer and staying to learn from Marcelo Bielsa had much appeal.
The Belgian defender fell down the pecking order at Leeds and recently opted to head back to his homeland on a season-long loan switch to KV Oostende.
De Bock admits that former Leeds head coach Paul Heckingbottom wanted to show him the door, but says the picture was different under Bielsa and he himself took the loan call.
For De Bock, there would have been some benefit to staying at Leeds, even without regular playing time.
"The coach wanted me to leave, but he was fired in June", De Bock told Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws.
"Under Bielsa, I did not have to leave last month, but after the arrival of a new left-back I thought it would be better to go on loan.
"Bielsa has a lot of appeal.
"It is as if he invented football.
"I learned a lot from his vision and philosophy."
And De Bock does not feel joining Leeds from Club Brugge in January was a bad call as he thinks he has grown as a player due to his spell at Elland Road.
"Leeds was an adventure in itself and I feel like I'm coming back a bit more mature", the full-back added.
Bielsa is sure to keep an eye on De Bock's perfomances back in the Belgian top flight, but it is unclear whether the defender has a future as a key man at Elland Road, despite no purchase option being included in his loan to Oostende.
