There is no shying away from the fact that the 2025/26 campaign is going to be an incredibly difficult one for Leeds United in the Premier League.
The Whites won the Championship title with a staggering 100 points, returning to the top-flight at the second time of asking, and are now preparing for a season at the top table.
Daniel Farke and the recruitment team are tasked with building a squad that can defy the odds next term, as the last six teams to be promoted to the Premier League have all been relegated at the first attempt.
The German head coach was not too keen to talk about the top-flight straight after promotion was secured back in April, but it will be on his mind now.
Leeds have already been linked with plenty of potential new signings to bolster their options across the board, and one player they have been linked with a move for is central defender Japhet Tanganga.
Why Japhet Tanganga could be a good signing for Leeds
The West Yorkshire outfit are reportedly eyeing up a move to sign the Millwall centre-back, who has a release clause in his contract that makes him available for a fee of just under £2m.
Sunderland and Burnley are also said to be interested in a deal for the former Tottenham Hotspur starlet, which means that the Whites could face plenty of competition to strike a bargain move for Tanganga.
For a fee of less than £2m, the English titan could be a good signing for Leeds because he has been an impressive performer in the Championship and has the potential to be a strong addition to the squad.
Whilst he has yet to prove himself in the Premier League, as he had to drop down to the second tier after coming through at Spurs, he has shown promise in the Championship with Millwall.
Appearances
18
40
Tackles + interceptions per game
2.6
2.3
Clearances per game
3.3
5.4
Ground duel success rate
53%
61%
Aerial duel success rate
55%
63%
Dribbled past per game
0.2
0.3x
Clean sheets
5
14
As you can see in the table above, Tanganga provided a strong presence at the back for Millwall in the 2024/25 campaign, especially, winning over 60% of his duels on the ground and in the air, whilst rarely being dribbled past.
If he can translate that kind of form over to the Premier League, then he could be a dominant force at the heart of the Leeds defence. However, the Whites could land an even better centre-back signing with a move for a Serie A defender.
Leeds in talks to sign Serie A stopper
According to Tutto Mercato Web, Leeds United are interested in a deal to sign Udinese central defender Jaka Bijol in the summer transfer window.
The report claims that contact has already been made between the two parties as the Whites attempt to push ahead with a swoop for the Slovenia international in the coming days.
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It states that talks are set to get underway in the next few days after the initial contact was made, although it remains to be seen exactly when Leeds will make an official move for the centre-back.
Tutto Mercato Web does, however, reveal that Udinese are ready to demand a fee in the region of £17m in order to allow their star defender to move on from the Serie A club before the end of the transfer window.
Leeds could, now, snap up an even better signing than Tanganga by going through with a swoop for this Slovenian star in the weeks to come.
Why Bijol would be a better signing than Tanganga
As aforementioned, the Millwall titan is yet to prove himself on a regular basis in the Premier League, which is why he is currently playing in the Championship with the Lions.
Bijol, meanwhile, has shown himself to be a steady performer in one of Europe’s major leagues in the Serie A, and would arrive at Elland Road with top-flight pedigree.
He has been a regular starter for Udinese in each of the past three seasons in the Serie A, with 90 appearances in the division, and has proven himself to be a dependable option at centre-back.
Bijol won at least 65% of his aerial battles in all three of those terms, notably winning 76% of them in the 2023/24 campaign, which speaks to his dominant defensive work in the air at the very top level in Italy.
Most impressively, though, the 26-year-old titan’s statistics at league level in the 2024/25 season were even more eye-catching than Tanganga’s were at a lower level.
Pass accuracy
84%
77%
Progressive passes
2.98
2.10
Tackles + interceptions
2.46
2.33
Blocks
1.15
0.99
Clearances
5.53
5.57
Aerial duels won
3.31
3.07
As you can see in the table above, Bijol offered more to his team in possession when building attacks out from the back with his reliability and progression on the ball, which could help to limit any mistakes when playing out under Farke in the top-flight.
The Slovenian star, who claimed he has “no fear”, also made more tackles, interceptions, and blocks per 90, with a very similar number of clearances, which suggests that he would also offer more to Leeds as an out-and-out defender.
Crucially, these performances from Bijol were in one of the top leagues in Europe and may be more likely to translate to the Premier League than Tanganga’s Championship showings are, due to him already proving himself at the top level.
This is why the Whites could land an even better signing than the English stopper by going through with a deal to sign the Udinese central defender before the end of the summer transfer window.
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It is now down to the board, though, to reach an agreement with the Serie A side once they enter the talks that Tutto Mercato Web claims are set to take place soon.
