Burnley and Leeds United have bolstered their backlines ahead of the step up to the Premier League next season.

JAKA BIJOL (UDINESE TO LEEDS UNITED)

Firstly, Jaka Bijol has joined Leeds for an undisclosed fee.

Capped 63 times by the Slovenian national team, the 26-year-old centre-half signs from Udinese.

He’s an experienced head, with UEFA Champions League and Europa League appearances under his belt (from his time at CSKA Moscow) as well as all those international appearances.

A nailed starter for Udinese last season, the only four games he missed were due to injury and suspension.

The disciplinary side is something to consider: he’s amassed 10+ bookings in two of the last three Serie A campaigns.

It’s been mid-table obscurity at best for Bijol since he joined Udine in 2022, with no finish higher than 12th. Last season I Bianconeri were in the lower reaches for goals conceded (56), xGC (52.6) and clean sheets (nine).

Centre-halves from newly promoted sides have been priced up at £4.0m in the last two years, so Bijol likely fits into this bracket. As it turns out, £4.0m has been about right for many of these stoppers: Ipswich Town, Southampton and Leicester City all failed to get past three clean sheets in 2024/25.

Nevertheless, Bijol should be one of the more popular £4.0m defenders if he is available in the bargain bin.

He could pop up with a return or two, as well. A presence at corners, he registered 19 goal attempts in 34 outings last season. Not quite Fabian Schar levels, but comparable to what the likes of Levi Colwill and Dean Huijsen posted in the Premier League. Bijol delivered five attacking returns in 32 starts in 2022/23, too.

Max Weiss (Karlsruher to Burnley)
Quilindschy Hartman (Feyenoord to Burnley)
Axel Tuanzebe (Ipswich Town to Burnley)

Only one of these players, at best, is probably going to be a £4.0m buy.

First-choice goalkeepers and more attacking full-backs from the newly promoted clubs tend to be £4.5m, as was the case with the likes of Mads Hermansen and Leif Davis last season.

Whether Max Weiss is a first-choice goalkeeper, of course, remains to be seen. Burnley’s number one James Trafford is being heavily linked with a move to Newcastle United, so Weiss could be between the posts in 2025/26.

Talk about a hard act to follow, though. Trafford posted some incredible numbers last season, vastly overachieving on the expected goals conceded front and helping the Clarets to 30 clean sheets.

Weiss is clearly highly rated: he has represented Germany at youth levels. But the 21-year-old’s senior experience basically amounts to one season in the second tier of German football. He was an ever-present starter for Karlsruher in 2024/25, managing just eight clean sheets.

No xG data exists for Bundesliga II but Weiss’s save percentage was a so-so 70.7% (Trafford’s was 85%!). He also stopped just one of the 10 penalties he faced.

A big ask to step up, and you wonder how Burnley’s clean-sheet potential suffers if Trafford leaves.

As for Quilindschy Hartman, he was once coveted by Chelsea – amongst others. A serious knee injury in March 2024 cost the left-back his chance at joining the Blues, however.

It also kept him out of a big chunk of 2024/25, limiting him to just eight starts and four substitute appearances at the back-end of the campaign.

There is clearly a player there, however. Capped by the Dutch national team, he may well have been at Euro 2024 had injury not ruled him out.

Five assists in 2024/25, and six attacking returns in 2023/24, underscored his potential going forward.

A listing at £4.5m will likely kill interest in him, of course, given the £4.0m bench fodder options on offer elsewhere at the Premier League new boys.

Which brings us to Axel Tuanzebe, who has joined the Clarets from relegated Ipswich.

Equipped to play at both full-back and centre-half, he operated in a hybrid role for the Tractor Boys last season as Davis pushed up the left flank. No surprise then that attacking returns were scarce: just one assist in 27 outings.

He’ll be competition for right-back Conor Roberts, and perhaps an option at centre-half now that CJ Egan-Riley has departed. He’s also our best bet at being a £4.0m option of this new Burnley trio.

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