Leeds United midfielder offers early verdict on 4 summer transfers with Premier League 'challenge' admission
Leeds United will hope to welcome a few more through the door this summer while early arrivals settle in.
Ilia Gruev has extended a warm welcome to his new Leeds United teammates as pre-season preparations continue for the 2025/26 Premier League campaign.
Bulgarian midfielder Gruev is shaping up for a third season at Elland Road having joined from Werder Bremen during Daniel Farke’s first summer in charge in 2023. The 25-year-old played 55 league games across two Championship campaigns and has become a central part of the squad alongside the likes of Ethan Ampadu and Joe Rodon, who both arrived that same summer.
Gruev therefore has fresh in his memory the feeling of settling into the current Leeds squad from abroad, something four new faces so far have experienced. Lukas Nmecha, Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bornauw and Gabriel Gudmundsson are all acclimatising to life in West Yorkshire during these early weeks of pre-season and the more experienced squad members are there to lend a hand when needed.
“A bit of enjoyment to work with the new players and have them with us,” Gruev told LUTV in a brief moment away from training. “Of course, it's tough but it's part of the job. We know what it's going to be but also we try to enjoy it.
“I try to [help the new signings settle in]. If they have some questions they can ask me or somebody else. Both of them [Bijol and Bornauw] have already found a new home very close to me. It's nice when you can help.”
Three of those four new signings will be getting their first taste of Premier League football soon - Nmecha played twice for Manchester City in 2017/18 - but they are not the only ones. Many of those to have joined Leeds from abroad following relegation in 2023 will also be making that step up to what is considered the most difficult league in the world.
Which Leeds United players have played in the Premier League?
Only Illan Meslier, Pascal Struijk and Patrick Bamford remain from the last team to win promotion with Leeds, while others such as Brenden Aaronson and Dan James arrived as Premier League players. Rodon, Ampadu, Jayden Bogle and others have top-flight minutes under their belts elsewhere.
But the likes of Ao Tanaka, Joel Piroe, Largie Ramazani and Gruev himself have no English top-flight experience to lean on ahead of next month’s opening-weekend game against Everton. But for the latter, that is nothing to be anxious over, rather a fresh challenge to relish.
“For me it's going to be my first Premier League season,” the midfielder added. “I'm really looking forward to it, as everyone else is. We’re going to have a lot of challenges but this is why we play football.”
Gruev and his teammates will at least get a taste of Premier League-level opposition on Saturday when Leeds face Manchester United in Stockholm, the first of five pre-season friendlies. Farke’s squad will then play twice in Germany before an Elland Road meeting with Villarreal and a trip to Dublin to face AC Milan, the latter coming just over one week before that Monday August 18 game against Everton.