{"id":1091441,"date":"2026-07-15T20:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1091441\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:46:16","slug":"pascal-struijk-vs-tarik-muharemovic-are-leeds-united-upgrading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1091441\/","title":{"rendered":"Pascal Struijk vs Tarik Muharemovic: Are Leeds United upgrading?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/tag\/leeds-united\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/tag\/leeds-united\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leeds United<\/a> bid farewell to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/tag\/pascal-struijk\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/tag\/pascal-struijk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pascal Struijk<\/a> this summer, with the Dutch defender making the move to Brighton.<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/fabrizio-romano-leeds-united-take-huge-step-towards-34m-transfer\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/fabrizio-romano-leeds-united-take-huge-step-towards-34m-transfer\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fabrizio Romano, however, United seem to be on the verge of signing his replacement<\/a>. Sassuolo defender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/tag\/tarik-muharemovic\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/tag\/tarik-muharemovic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tarik Muharemovic<\/a> looks set to make the move to Elland Road this summer. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With Struijk\u2019s silky left foot giving United\u2019s backline some much-needed balance, it is important that we secure a like-for-like replacement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But according to the data, the 49ers may have gone one better and even upgraded on Struijk.<\/p>\n<p>Data suggests Tarik Muharemovic and Pascal Struijk are similar on the ball<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Firstly, when comparing Muharemovic and Struijk, it\u2019s important to consider their age.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At 26, Struijk is a player in the prime years of his career. Whilst at just 23, Muharemovic has more of a ceiling to improve, you would imagine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On paper, at least, it\u2019s clear to see why the 49ers have targeted Muharemovic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to data courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/comparison-matrix\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/comparison-matrix\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Squawka\u2019s Comparison Matrix<\/a>, Muharemovic and Struijk are similar when it comes to their ability on the ball.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Last season, Muharemovic completed 44.9 passes per game, with an 85.69% pass accuracy.<\/li>\n<li>Struijk, on the other hand, completed 49.9 passes per game, with an accuracy of 88.51%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, of these passes, Muharemovic tended to attempt long passes far more often than Struijk last season.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Muharemovic attempted 7.1 long passes per game, whilst Struijk attempted 4.7<\/li>\n<li>Naturally, Muharemovic completed more long passes per game. Completing 2.8 compared to Struijk\u2019s 2.2.<\/li>\n<li>Struijk did, however, boast a higher completion rate, with 46.41% compared to Muharemovic\u2019s 39.46%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Being good on the ball is nice, but we all know a lot more than that goes into being a defender.<\/p>\n<p>Data suggests Tarik Muharemovic is a better pure defender than Pascal Struijk<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On top of being a bigger goal threat last season, with two league goals compared to Struijk\u2019s zero, the data suggests Muharemovic is a better pure defender than Struijk.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Muharemovic averaged more tackles a game last season than Struijk, with 1.4 compared to Struijk\u2019s 1.2<\/li>\n<li>The Bosnian also averaged more clearances (7.1), interceptions (1.5) and blocks (1) per game than Struijk. The Dutchman averaged 6.4, 1 and 0.6, respectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As well as this, the data also confirms that Muharemovic is better than Struijk in duels.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Muharemovic\u2019s aerial duel success rate was 64.42% last season, compared to Struijk\u2019s 55.84%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even when the ball was on the deck, Muharemovic was more effective.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Sassuolo defender was successful in 64.42% of his ground duels, which is significantly higher than Struijk\u2019s 55.17% success rate.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some may caveat these numbers, claiming Muharemovic was doing it in a less competitive league in Serie A, whilst Struijk was doing it in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps rightly so. But you cannot deny that on paper, his data is impressive when compared with Struijk. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With Struijk costing Brighton a reported <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/leeds-united-add-pascal-struijk-sell-on-clause-in-brighton-transfer\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/leeds-united-add-pascal-struijk-sell-on-clause-in-brighton-transfer\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a318million<\/a>, the 49ers could be in line to hand <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/tag\/daniel-farke\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/tag\/daniel-farke\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Farke<\/a> a younger player in Muharemovic, who the data suggests is an upgrade, for just \u00a316million more than what they sold the Dutchman for.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hopefully for Leeds, Muharemovic hits the ground running should he arrive in the Premier League. If he does, then the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/leeds-united-willing-to-pay-34m-for-tarik-muharemovic\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.leedsallover.com\/leeds-united-willing-to-pay-34m-for-tarik-muharemovic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a334million<\/a> it will reportedly cost to buy him will soon look like a bargain. <\/p>\n<p>            0%<br \/>\n            Love<\/p>\n<p>            0%<br \/>\n            Funny<\/p>\n<p>            0%<br \/>\n            Wow<\/p>\n<p>            0%<br \/>\n            Sad<\/p>\n<p>            0%<br \/>\n            Angry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds United bid farewell to Pascal Struijk this summer, with the Dutch defender making the move to Brighton.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1062853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,2922,142361,1991,162564,142362,16,15],"class_list":["post-1091441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-leeds","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-leeds","tag-leeds-united","tag-lufc","tag-pascal-struijk","tag-tarik-muharemovic","tag-the-whites","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116925955180928841","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1091441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1062853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1091441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1091441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1091441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}