Leeds United secured a warrior of a centre-back yesterday in the form of Slovenian Jaka Bijol from Udinese.
It was a drawn-out process but Leeds United finally got their man in Jaka Bijol, with Udinese bidding Bijol an emotional farewell and Bijol giving his first words for Leeds.
It was our suggestion that Leeds should look at signing Bijol before genuine links materialised between Bijol and Leeds.
Now secured, Bijol is just the second Slovenian to play for Leeds but his impact should be far greater than the last in Zan Benedicic during the Massimo Cellino era of the club.
Journalist compares Jaka Bijol to Nottingham Forest’s Nikola Milenkovic
Fabrizio Romano revealed a €22 million fee will bring Bijol to Leeds, which is the equivalent of £18.8 million for Leeds and now Leeds have signed Bijol on a five-year contract.
Bijol’s remarkable aerial ability and dominance was on full display when Bijol was imperious for Slovenia against England at the Euros last summer and he will add more steel and aggression to Leeds’ backline.
A similar signing was made from a Premier League club last summer when Nottingham Forest secured Nikola Milenkovic from Fiorentina.
The giant Serbian defender helped them to a seventh-place finish in the Premier League and Italian football expert and journalist Alessandro Schiavone has stated Bijol could have a similar impact with Leeds.
He said: “Leeds have signed one of the best Serie A centre-backs outside the traditional top six. If you ask me now, he can have a similar impact to that of Nikola Milenkovic at Nottingham Forest at Elland Road.”
His box defending and ability to put his body on the line is very similar to Milenkovic and, if he has anything like the same impact as Milenkovic, then the 26-year-old could end up with the same sorts of accolades in a year’s time.
- READ MORE: Leeds United can blow Jaka Bijol transfer out of the water by securing 13G/A La Liga forward
Nikola Milenkovic was Gary Neville’s signing of the season in the Premier League
Despite the fact Bijol might miss Leeds’ first game against Everton, an even more exciting appraisal for Leeds is the fact that Gary Neville picked Milenkovic as his signing of the 2024/25 Premier League season when speaking back in May.
He said on Monday Night Football: “Unbelievable signing. When you pick this one, sometimes you tend to go with someone you’ve just seen a little bit more.
“I think Milenkovic, with the season Forest have had and the dominance he’s had in that team, the way in which they defend and we’ve seen the stats about how much Forest have to defend.
“The thing about Milenkovic, the one thing I would say about him is that Forest suits him down to the ground. Forest stay quite compact, and that suits him and his style of defending.”
Stylistically, they are well aligned. Leeds are also more likely to be doing plenty of defending next season, much like Forest did last season in the Premier League. Warriors are needed for that and Bijol is one.
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