Latest news with #JakaBijol
New York Times
22-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Leeds United new boy Jaka Bijol on the Premier League, a busy summer, and the Tour de France
Finding common interests with new colleagues is a crucial step in your integration with a new workplace. Jaka Bijol may have found that with Illan Meslier as he huddled around his phone on the team bus in the past few days. The Tour de France, cycling's most prestigious event, is currently unfolding around Meslier's home country. And not one, but two of cycling's greatest competitors are both from Slovenia, Bijol's home country. Advertisement Slovenia has a population of 2.1 million people, which is equivalent to Paris, but despite that tiny base, the country has caught lightning in a bottle twice, in the same era. Primoz Roglic, 35, has never won the Tour de France, but does have five titles across the sport's other two biggest events. Tadej Pogacar, meanwhile, may be 26, but he is already en route to his fourth Tour crown this month. The Slovenian is considered by many to already be the greatest cyclist in history. Is it any wonder Bijol, his compatriot, devours every stage of the great race when he can? 'I started watching with Primoz's successes,' he says. 'I would say it's maybe six or seven years. It grew from there. When Tadej was coming up it was hard for some Slovenians, who love Primoz, to accept. 'With Tadej, everything seems so easy — I would say he's the greatest in history. You see he loves what he does and everyone else respects him a lot.' Bijol is speaking to The Athletic after a morning of training in Germany, where Daniel Farke has taken Leeds United for a pre-season training camp. Unlike a nine-month football season, the Tour is only on for three weeks every year, so fans have to be committed to watching every day. Around Saturday's friendly with Manchester United, Bijol watched what he could. He doesn't think many of his team-mates understand the tactics of the sport, but Meslier took an interest when he saw the defender watching a stage on the team bus. 'When we played Man United, it was a big stage (in the Tour) as well,' he said. 'I watched it a little bit before and then I watched it at the end, after the game. I try to watch it for sure. 'You have to focus before the game, but for sure, I watch it every day when I can. For some, it's weird because they don't understand all the tactics and everything, but really, it's not more than (the tactics) in football.' Advertisement Bijol's been grafting with the rest of the team in Germany, having made his club debut on Saturday, but in the knowledge he won't make his competitive debut in next season's opener. When Everton visit on August 18, the centre-back will be suspended. In his final appearance for Udinese, Bijol received two yellow cards and was sent off. It may have happened in Serie A, but he and the club discovered last week he will still serve the suspension in the Premier League. 'Honestly, it's really disappointing for me because I really thought it wouldn't (carry over) — and it also wasn't even a red card, I would say,' he says. 'It's kind of crazy. I asked if we can do something about it, but it looks like I just have to accept it. 'There's still a lot of games left in the season. I'm sad to miss the first one, but there's going to be a lot of them left.' Bijol was the second of the club's new signings this summer. His transfer was announced on June 23. His Instagram account would show you he married his wife, Neza, on June 14. It's fair to say it's been a life-changing summer break for the 26-year-old. A career-defining transfer worth millions of pounds and a move to the UK cannot have been the easiest preparation ahead of the most important day of his and his wife's lives. 'It worked actually quite OK together,' he said. 'It's still a lot of stress in those few days. For sure, my wife was not so happy. 'It took a little bit of focus out of the wedding, but everything worked out really good. We managed to do that first and then focus on the transfer as well. It all turned out good, so I'm happy about it.' Bijol forms one quarter of what, on paper, looks like a formidable collection of Leeds centre backs. Vice-captain Pascal Struijk, Joe Rodon and fellow new arrival Sebastiaan Bornauw will all back themselves to be worthy of Premier League starts next term. Bijol came to West Yorkshire looking for a challenge like this. He sees the potential in Leeds and, though he admits he did not intimately know the club's history, he sees everything a footballer could want from this corner of the world. 'I didn't know a lot about Leeds, but I knew the basic stuff,' he said. 'It's a really big team, a successful team in the past that had some really good years, now recent years as well, of course, a relegation, but we know it's the hardest league in the world. Advertisement 'They're growing, they have a good vision now with the owners, with everyone inside the team. I see it as the club really has a lot of potential to grow still. 'The fanbase and everything around is the club is everything a footballer can wish for. It's a big challenge.' Top photo:
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Leeds United hit with shock suspension news for Everton Premier League opener
Leeds United will be without their biggest signing of the summer so far when they host Everton on the opening weekend of the season. The Blues begin their campaign with a trip to Elland Road on Monday, August 18 in what should be an intriguing encounter with the newly-promoted Whites. The Championship winners will be unable to name new centre back Jaka Bijol as they bid to consolidate their Premier League status, however, after the club were informed he must serve a suspension handed to him with his former club, Udinese. A £15m recruit from Serie A, Bijol joined Leeds in June and is expected to be central to the plans of manager Daniel Farke. READ MORE: Charlie Adam names 'biggest challenge' as he reflects on Everton set-piece struggles READ MORE: Everton launch new 2025-26 away kit inspired by Hill Dickinson Stadium heritage According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Farke will have to start the season without his new man, though, after the Slovenia international was told the suspension he should have incurred for a red card on the final game of last season in Italy must be carried over to the Premier League. Bijol was shown two yellow cards in the first half of Udinese's 3-2 home defeat to Fiorentina - the late winner being scored by former Everton striker Moise Kean. The 26-year-old appeared unaware that sending off would have implications at his new club. Upon joining Leeds, he told the club's LUTV channel that he was "excited" about the prospect of getting his first minutes against the Blues. The confusion has shades of the last time Everton visited Elland Road, back in August 2022 under Frank Lampard. New signing Neal Maupay was forced to miss that game because of a quirk in the Premier League rules - but the Blues only discovered he was ineligible late in their preparations for the game. League rules state a new player must be registered by midday on the last working day before a fixture. With Maupay signed on the previous Friday afternoon that left him unable to make his debut at Brentford the following day. The club had anticipated he would, therefore, be able to start his ill-feted Blues career at Leeds the following Tuesday - only to find out he could not because the Monday was a bank holiday and not considered a working day by the league.
New York Times
17-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Leeds' new signing Jaka Bijol suspended for Premier League opener
Leeds United will be without their £15million ($20.1m) centre-back Jaka Bijol for the first game of the upcoming Premier League season. The former Udinese defender will serve a one-match suspension for the red card he received in his final Serie A fixture last season. Bijol started the match against Fiorentina as captain on May 25, but he would not last beyond the 39th minute. The 26-year-old was booked in the ninth minute, but that did not deter him from a full-blooded challenge in the 39th minute. Advertisement Udinese were leading 1-0 through Lorenzo Lucca when Bijol found himself venturing upfield. The Slovenian went to ground and cleanly got a boot to the ball in the final third. Unfortunately for him, referee Matteo Marcenaro was not happy. As Bijol stretched for the ball, his momentum carried him through opponent Pablo Mari, who was upended after the ball had been pushed away. He received his second yellow card and was off before half-time. Leeds were aware of the red card when they made the move for Bijol, but it was unclear whether the suspension would carry over from Serie A into the Premier League. That was clarified for the club this week and he will now have to wait for his debut until Arsenal, on August 23, at the earliest. It leaves Daniel Farke, as it stands, Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk and Sebastiaan Bornauw as his recognised centre-back options for the Everton game on August 18. (Jure Makovec/AFP via Getty Images)
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What Leeds can expect from Bornauw: An attacking set-piece weapon with deceptive pace
There is a clear profile Daniel Farke and the recruitment team are looking to follow this summer: they want Leeds United's squad to be imposing. They have signed two new centre-backs who are both 26, both 6ft 3in and both have experience in Europe's big five leagues. Premier League forwards will mess with Sebastiaan Bornauw and Jaka Bijol at their peril. Advertisement Bornauw followed Bijol, who was confirmed last week, through the Elland Road entrance on Tuesday. The Belgium international signed for €6million (£5.2m, $7.1m) from Wolfsburg, where he had been for four years. So, what are Leeds going to get from a defender they have handed a four-year contract to? Josuha Guilavogui, who was a Leeds player until Monday when his deal expired, shared the pitch on 30 occasions with Bornauw during their two years together at Wolfsburg and the 34-year-old was one of the key voices the new signing turned to when he was weighing up the club's interest. When The Athletic asks the veteran about his old team-mate, he starts explaining how he used to call Bornauw 'The Duke' because of his blond hair and good looks. Bornauw's childhood, partly spent in Morocco because of his father's work, is talked up by Guilavogui: 'He's very intelligent and he can chat with anyone. 'He knows how to act with everyone. He said to me, 'I was on the street playing with the other children (in Morocco)'. He is a very open guy and he is funny too. 'He is a leader. He is the guy who will always be loud in training, giving advice or pushing the team. He likes to train hard and this is the right mentality. He is a really good defender, very hard one against one, even in training, he always gives 100 per cent. He is really, really good in the air. He is probably one of the best headers. Him and Pascal (Struijk) will be really good weapons at set pieces.' Guilavogui is also keen to highlight Bornauw's speed. When Wolfsburg played under Niko Kovac, from 2022 to 2024, he says they played with a high line and an aggressive press. It required their defenders, like Bornauw, Micky van de Ven (now of Tottenham Hotspur) and Maxence Lacroix (now of Crystal Palace) to be fast when recovering balls in behind. Guilavogui sees no issues for Leeds' new man in that respect. Aerial ability and speed are attributes which come up when The Athletic speaks to Craig Fleming, too. The former Norwich City player was a part of Ralph Hasenhuttl's backroom staff at Wolfsburg last season and worked with Bornauw on a daily basis. 'We made him vice-captain,' said Fleming. 'He's a good character and aerially very strong, especially at offensive set plays. He was a big threat for us. For a big guy, he's deceptively quick. He covers ground really well.' Advertisement Bornauw, it has to be said, only played 788 minutes in the Bundesliga under Hasenhuttl and Fleming last season. Injuries restricted his game time, but despite this Fleming did see improvements in the Belgian's play — with intelligence and reading of the game standing out. 'We, at the start, went with real man-for-man pressing,' said Fleming. 'So we had to get him (to be) brave, jumping into midfield and following his man. Once he got he got the hang of it he took to it really well. He's quite a clever kid, he reads the game well.' As Guilavogui pointed out, Bornauw's threat at set pieces will have been hard for Leeds and their recruitment staff to ignore. 'He's like a magnet (for the ball when in the box),' says Fleming. 'I don't know whether it is because he's brilliant in the air or whether he reads the flight of the ball (well). Even if he didn't score, he was always getting on the end of stuff.' The data from Bornauw's admittedly limited Bundesliga minutes last season paints a clear picture of what his strengths and weaknesses on the pitch are. When compared with centre-backs across Europe's big five leagues, he is among the very best when it comes to goal threat (denoted as a combination of expected goals and goals per 90). Guilavogui says he expects Struijk and Bornauw to each score around five goals each next season. Bornauw's all-round ability in the air is clear too. His aerial volume (98 out of 99) shows the immense quantity of headers he makes, with his aerial success (65 out of 99) further highlighting how impressive he is in winning those challenges more often than not. The other metrics from The Athletic's graphic paint the bigger picture, too. A rating of 27 out of 99 for front-foot defending shows he does not go looking for defensive work to do. He would rather wait to make a challenge when needed. If he were to be pinned down on how he elects to progress the ball forward, it would sooner be in his passing than running out with the ball (carry progression, 46 out of 99). Advertisement Inevitably, for a fraction over £5m, Bornauw is not going to be the perfect defender. Last season's numbers show he was not especially creative nor adept in possession — but given they are expected to be battling relegation next season, Leeds have arguably focused on their defenders getting the basics right. Wolfsburg travelled to Brentford for a pre-season friendly last summer and Bornauw came up against Yoane Wissa, who went on to score 19 Premier League goals in 2024-25. Above, you can see Bryan Mbeumo travelling forward before looking to thread a pass through the away defence for his team-mate to latch onto. Wissa collected the pass. However, as we see in this second image, Bornauw showed his speed in keeping pace with Wissa between the centre circle and the penalty box. The centre-back held the striker up and ultimately killed the opening off. In the same friendly, Bornauw also demonstrated his aerial prowess by winning an offensive header from a corner. He beat his man at the near post and his header could only be parried by the Brentford goalkeeper. Patrick Wimmer then followed up for a tap-in. There was a similar moment in a Bundesliga game last season. Below, you can see a corner has been delivered into the near-post area. Bornauw wrestles with Bayer Leverkusen's Nordi Mukiele and beats him to the ball before planting a header into the net. In a team which was notoriously blunt in the air from set pieces last season (with the exception of Struijk), Bornauw is the kind of addition that will improve Leeds in this area. This is the kind of edge the club's recruitment team feel they need at set pieces if they are to bridge the gap to the top flight and stay up. Before Guilavogui finished talking to The Athletic, he reflected on the reservations some supporters may have about Leeds adding Bornauw, or Lukas Nmecha, from Wolfsburg. He pointed to the examples of Van de Ven and Lacroix as imports from Wolfsburg who prospered in the Premier League. Failing that, he asked them to have faith in Farke — as the manager knows why he has added these players. 'Even if you guys don't know these players because they played in the Bundesliga, I can tell you they are bringing quality,' he says. 'You can trust Daniel Farke. If he wants this player, he really knows why.' Graphic by Mark Carey
BBC News
01-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'I'm quite an aggressive defender'
Sebastiaan Bornauw says he will bring an aggression to Leeds United after completing a move from Wolfsburg for a fee in the region of £ 26-year-old is the third signing made by Leeds since their return to the Premier League following the arrivals of Lukas Nmecha and Jaka Radio Leeds revealed in recent weeks that the club hope to sign players with physical presence in a bid to remain tight defensively in the Premier League."I'm quite an aggressive defender, I would say," Bornauw told the club's website."I'm strong. I like duels and I think that's pretty English. I think as a centre-back, I'm dangerous in front of the goal, I like set pieces, offensive set pieces. So that's what I think my game is, I would say."I'm really pleased to be here, it's an amazing club."The Premier League was always my dream, and then to play for such a big club in England and in Europe, it's a dream come true."I think the Premier League for me is the biggest league in the world. Obviously, Germany is a really strong league too, but I think as a football player, we aim for the highest and I think the Premier League is the highest for me."Get news notifications on your club
