Leeds duo set for summer exit as £21m transfer gains pace after Muharemovic breakthrough

Leeds United’s defensive rebuild appears to be gaining pace as they are reportedly eyeing Udinese’s Oumar Solet in addition to Sassuolo’s Tarik Muharemovic, which is likely to pave the way for two summer exits.

On Tuesday, it emerged that Leeds had agreed a £34.1m fee with the Serie A team to sign towering defender Muharemovic, in what would be the club’s second signing of the summer after Harry Wilson.

However, while both teams have struck an accord, the 23-year-old is reportedly yet to agree personal terms or complete a medical at the Elland Road outfit.

It seems he would be a direct replacement for Pascal Struijk, who joined Brighton and Hove Albion for a fee worth up to £20m earlier this month.

And yet, it seems that the Yorkshire outfit are not done when it comes to strengthening their defensive rearguard ahead of next season.

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According to Tuttomercatoweb, Leeds are ‘pressing’ for 26-year-old Solet – who, like Muharemovic, is also 6ft 4in –  despite being prepared to fork out a hefty sum of money for the Bosnia-Herzegovina international.

The report adds that Udinese want around £21m for Solet’s services, but there is said to be no indication Leeds would pay that figure.

The Whites have reportedly contacted the former France Under-20 international’s entourage about a deal, as they are ‘very keen’ on bringing him to the Premier League.

Incidentally, Solet stacked up well against his fellow Serie A centre-backs last season in an attacking sense.

In his 35 league games, where he scored three times and bagged an assist, the Frenchman was in the top 11% for chances created and shots attempted, and was in the top 20% for goals and touches.

Conversely, he didn’t rank highly when it came to aerial duels won (bottom 20%) and defensive contributions (bottom 40%).

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End of the line for Wober and Bornauw at Leeds

Nevertheless, if both Muharemovic and Solet were signed, that would add a great deal of competition to Leeds’ backline, which is led by former Udinese man Jaka Bijol and Joe Rodon.

From late November onwards, Daniel Farke has opted to play three centre-backs in his defence, with the versatile James Justin filling in admirably when called upon.

Bijol, Rodon, Justin and Struijk were all ahead of 2025 signing Sebastiaan Bornauw, who struggled for game time in his first season at Leeds.

Off the back of recruiting Bornauw and Bijol, Leeds had no qualms about loaning out Max Wober, who has had a sorry spell at the Peacocks to date.

In their 2024/25 Championship promotion season, he didn’t get much of a look-in, in addition to being struck down by injury issues.

Those problems got even worst last season as he missed the vast majority of the campaign while on loan at Werder Bremen.

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To date, the Austrian has played just 28 times since signing for Leeds in January 2023 and as he enters the last year of his contract, the Whites will be keen to offload him this summer.

If Leeds sign two new centre-backs, that could also be curtains for Bornauw, who made just 14 appearances for the club last term after signing for £5.1m on a four-year deal.

When Leeds got promoted last year, the goal was to raise the floor of the squad. Going forward, the brief is to raise the ceiling in terms of quality.

Leeds want to become an established Premier League side and unfortunately for that to happen, there will have to be some casualties along the way.

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