Leeds United have signed centre-back Nico Elvedi (£4.5m) from Borussia Monchengladbach for a ‘real-life’ price of £8.5m.

The Switzerland international pens a three-year deal.

It marks a reunion for the 29-year-old with his former manager Daniel Farke, who coached the Bundesliga side in the 2022/23 season.

With the Whites having already signed another new centre-back in towering Bosnian international Tarik Muharemovic (£5.0m), could Elvedi’s arrival have implications for budget-friendly Fantasy Premier League (FPL) pick Joe Rodon (£4.5m) – or any other Leeds defenders?

We investigate.

WHO IS ELVEDI?

Elvedi, who turns 30 at the end of September, brings plenty of top-flight experience to Leeds’ backline.

After leaving hometown club FC Zürich in 2015, he has spent the last 11 seasons in Germany’s first division with Monchengladbach and earned 73 caps for Switzerland, including playing every minute at this summer’s World Cup for the quarter-finalists.

Quickly becoming a first-team regular, Elvedi made 364 appearances for Gladbach across all competitions, scoring 19 goals and helping the team qualify for Europe on several occasions.

Three of his goals came during the 2022/23 campaign under Farke, who handed Elvedi 34 run-outs in all competitions that year.

IS THERE FPL APPEAL?

His 19 goals for his former club, albeit spread across 11 seasons, suggest this is a centre-back with a penchant for the odd attacking return.

The goals have actually tailed off since his three in his last season under Farke, with two in the following season’s Bundesliga, one in 2024/25 and none in the league last time out, although Elvedi did score twice in three German cup matches last year.

He isn’t necessarily a high-volume shooter – nine total attempts and none on target across his 33 starts last season explain the lack of a league goal – but three assists did come.

Notably, the 6ft 2in, right-footed centre-half also averaged an eye-catching 11.62 defensive contributions (DefCon) per 90 minutes, suggesting there is potential to join new teammate Muharemovic as something of a DefCon machine.

WILL ELVEDI TAKE RODON’S PLACE AT LEEDS?

In short, this is unlikely to happen – at least, not yet.

Farke showed with Jaka Bijol (£4.5m) when he arrived last season that he was happy to use an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach, so there’s a chance Elvedi may have to bide his time and hope for one of the other three – now that Sebastiaan Bornauw has left Elland Road on loan – to lose form.

There’s also the consideration Farke gives new arrivals, as he alluded to on Thursday.

“Once a player comes in from a different country… we had it with Jaka Bijol, for example. He needed two or three months to adapt to English football and you could see this in the beginning. But after three months, he was there and then was excellent.” – Daniel Farke

And even then, it’s not just Rodon’s right-sided position Elvedi will be covering – as Farke told us on Thursday.

“He is also very flexible in the position that he can play. A bit like Sebastiaan [Bornauw, who has left], he can play the central position in the three-man formation but he can also play on the right and also on the left side.

“As a centre-back, he has even played more often on the left side than the right side, for example. It gives us even a bit more cover on all positions, anyhow, because our group is also not too big.” – Daniel Farke on Nico Elvedi

So, Rodon’s place should be safe so long as things are going well. A series of high-profile errors, of course, and that may change.