Leeds United appear to be happy with the players they have signed to reinforce their defence and midfield early in the transfer window. All the money so far has gone into strengtheing those two key areas of the pitch and the Whites are now working on bringing in attackers.
Jaka Bijol and Sebastiaan Bornauw were brought in increase their options at the heart of their defence and Gabriel Gudmundsson was signed to replace Junior Firpo, who left the club on a free transfer this summer. The Whites are keen to sign one more full-back as cover if Isaac Schmidt leaves on loan.
Leeds are unlikely to sign any more centre-backs, but the club were tracking severa players before Bornauw and Bijol were snapped. Daniel Farke was keen on signing at least one defender who had the experience of playing in the Premier League.
The Whites were linked with a move for several centre-backs with Premier League experienced earlier in the window, and some of those rumours had some truth in them.
Can you name these 10 former Leeds United defenders?
| [freshpress-quiz id=”43123″] |
Agent confirmes Leeds United talks earlier in the window before transfer happened
Earlier this week, FC Porto triggerred the £6.5m release claue in Jan Bednarek’s contract to snare him away from Southampton, who got relegated from the Premier League last season.
The defener will be appearing for the Portuguese giants next season, but his agent, Tomasz Magdziarz, confirmed that several English clubs were interested in the defender as well.
He revealed Leeds United were among the clubs who were in contact with him to sign Bednarek and even West Ham were in the running to sign him earlier in the summer window.
Magdziarz did admit that given his wages at Southampton, the Polish defender was unafforable for several of clubs who came forward to try and sign him.
“There were offers from England and beyond. Leeds United and West Ham also showed interest”, the defender’s agent told Meczyki.
“Many clubs were interested in Janek. However, we must remember that he had a very good contract at Southampton, one of the highest, and many clubs that were interested in him couldn’t afford it.”
Bednarek would have added experience to the Leeds backline
Bijol has looked good in the pre-season games and Bornauw is also expected to settle into the Leeds backline next season.
However, neither has played in the Premier League and will need help from Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk to get used to the top flight’s physical intensity.
Leeds’ interest in Bednarek is not surprising as Farke would have definitely liked to add some Premier League experience to the defence before the start of the new season.
However, Bijol and Bornauw have added height to the squad with the former impressing against Manchester United in his first outing in a Leeds shirt.
