{"id":188617,"date":"2025-06-16T09:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T09:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/188617\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T09:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T09:22:13","slug":"newcastle-united-join-the-race-for-brilliant-leeds-united-transfer-target-hes-a-top-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/188617\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcastle United join the race for ‘brilliant’ Leeds United transfer target, he’s a ‘top priority’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Leeds United could be set to miss out on Jaka Bijol as the centre-back remains an Udinese player currently.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Farke<\/a> and Leeds United<\/a> have two first-team centre-backs in the form of Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk, with Max Wober expected to depart and Ethan Ampadu more of a defensive midfielder.<\/p>\n

We therefore outlined that Bijol should be a target for Leeds this summer<\/a> prior to any reported interest. Now, Leeds are keen to land Bijol\u2019s signature<\/a> from Udinese to add competition at centre-back.<\/p>\n

Recently it was reported that Bijol had given Leeds his word to join<\/a> the club this summer but Leeds\u2019 first bid for Bijol was rejected<\/a> over the last few days.<\/p>\n

\"JakaPhoto by MB Media\/Getty ImagesNewcastle United join Leeds in the race for Jaka Bijol<\/p>\n

Leeds and Udinese remain apart in their valuation of Bijol<\/a> despite other reports stating Bijol will cost Leeds no more than \u00a315.2 million<\/a><\/p>\n

The giant Slovenian central defender has been with Udinese for the last three seasons but Bijol wants a fresh start this summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Leeds aren\u2019t the only interested party in the race. Sacha Tavolieri of Sky Sports Switzerland<\/a> has revealed that Leeds\u2019 \u201ctop defensive priority\u201d is also a target for Newcastle.<\/p>\n

The Magpies have recently entered the race for the Slovenian\u2019s signature, according to the report. Udinese are due to pay a percentage of the player\u2019s upcoming sale to CSKA Moscow and are hoping to secure at least \u20ac20 million.<\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

Bijol has already agreed to move to England, but Newcastle\u2019s interest could change his destination, according to Tavolieri. For Leeds, the 26-year-old is \u201cconsidered fundamental internally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bijol will have to switch shirt numbers to join Leeds<\/a>. Of course, that is unlikely to be a determining factor in negotiations but Newcastle\u2019s interest has thrown a spanner in the works.<\/p>\n

\"MonzaPhoto by Image Photo Agency\/Getty ImagesJaka Bijol\u2019s brilliant displays alongside Marco Silvestri at Udinese<\/p>\n

Marco Silvestri claimed Bijol\u2019s brilliance for Udinese<\/a> and their defensive unit was the foundation for his success during his time with the club.<\/p>\n

Bijol\u2019s aerial prowess is what Leeds are eyeing as having, with his ability to defend his box likely to be vital for a team looking to survive relegation to the Championship.<\/p>\n

Leeds have Struijk who is excellent in the air, while Rodon also wins plenty of headers but lacks direction in terms of how he places his headers.<\/p>\n

Bijol should be a threat at both ends of the pitch in that sense, which is why signing him would add an extra dimension to Leeds in both boxes.<\/p>\n

A warrior of a centre-back, Bijol is the ideal type of defender for a team fighting to survive relegation.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds United could be set to miss out on Jaka Bijol as the centre-back remains an Udinese player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,70462,1860,100,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-188617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-jaka-bijol","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-transfer-news","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114692315356120029","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188617","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=188617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}