Jaka Bijol has delivered his verdict on the summer that reshaped Elland Road, telling BBC Radio Leeds that Leeds United are in as healthy a state as he has known — “we have a strong squad” — with the window shut and a trip to Brighton next on the list.
What Jaka Bijol said about Leeds United’s rebuilt squad
The centre-half appeared on the BBC Radio Leeds podcast Leeds United: Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet on Wednesday, reflecting on the transfer window, the club’s start to the season and the trip to Brighton. The episode is titled with his own summary of where the Whites are: “We have a strong squad.”
Coming from Bijol, that carries a bit of weight. He is one of the players whose position was directly affected by the summer’s traffic — Leeds signed two more centre-backs and lost one of their most experienced ones — and he has still started the season in the middle of Daniel Farke’s back four.
Seven in, and a defence rebuilt around him
Leeds brought in seven first-team players before the 11pm deadline on Tuesday: James Trafford from Manchester City, Tarik Muharemović from Sassuolo, Nico Elvedi from Borussia Mönchengladbach, Harry Wilson on a free from Fulham, Ditmir Hodja from Rabotnicki, and then two late ones in Melvin Bard, on loan from Nice with an option to buy, and Jean-Matteo Bahoya from Eintracht Frankfurt. Our full Leeds United transfer window verdict rates all seven.
The other side of the ledger changed Bijol’s world just as much. Pascal Struijk left for Brighton in a £15m deal, Maximilian Wöber and Sam Byram were released, and Illan Meslier’s contract expired in June before he joined Arsenal. Trafford’s arrival means the goalkeeper behind Bijol is new; Elvedi and Muharemović mean the competition beside him is new too.
Farke has essentially asked a defence with three new faces in it to hold a Premier League line from the first whistle of the season. So far it has. Leeds have conceded once in two league games, keeping a clean sheet in the 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest on 22 August — Anton Stach’s free-kick settling it — and another in the 2-0 Carabao Cup win at the City Ground three days later. Kevin Schade’s first-half goal for Brentford at Elland Road on Saturday was the only blot, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin cancelled it out from a Lukas Nmecha cross.
Four points, three unbeaten and a Brighton test
Four points from two games and three unbeaten in all competitions is the sort of platform Leeds did not have this time last year, and supporters have noticed where the improvement is coming from: our fan verdict on the Brentford draw found the back line hailed as the best in the division on early evidence.
Brighton away, which Bijol previewed on the podcast, is a different examination, and one that will tell Farke rather more about his back line than a home draw did. Bijol’s partner for that one is not a given, either: Joe Rodon came off against Brentford with what has been reported as a potential hamstring problem, and the club have not confirmed a timescale. Nobody should be writing him off, and nobody should be assuming he is fine.
If Rodon is not ready, Bijol’s “strong squad” line gets tested rather than quoted. Elvedi impressed on debut in the cup and Muharemović arrived as the summer’s second-most expensive signing, so the options exist. The international break gives Farke time to work out which pairing he trusts before a run of fixtures that includes a Carabao Cup third-round tie with Chelsea and a rearranged home game with Crystal Palace, moved because of the opposition’s European commitments.
For now, take Bijol’s assessment at face value. A defender who has just watched two more centre-backs walk through the door and still finds the squad stronger for it is not a man worried about his place — he is a man who thinks the group around him got better. Elland Road will settle for that.
