Leeds United transfers as summer 2025 arrival eyed for swift Bundesliga return
Reports of summer interest have emerged in one of Leeds United's squad members.
Leeds United defender Sebastiaan Bornauw is reportedly being eyed by a former club less than 12 months after arriving at Elland Road.
Bornauw joined Leeds in a €6million (£5.2m) deal last summer, signing a four-year contract to join 2024/25 VfL Wolfsburg teammate Lukas Nmecha in West Yorkshire. He was followed by £15m centre-back Jaka Bijol as Elland Road chiefs moved quickly to bolster Daniel Farke’s defensive ranks.
But while Bijol has inserted himself into Farke’s starting-XI, regular football has not been forthcoming for Bornauw - thanks in part to fitness issues. The Belgian’s four Premier League starts arrived as a result of injuries elsewhere and five substitute appearances have all come with just one minute plus added-time remaining.
Reports of interest in Bornauw surfaced during the January transfer window but with Leeds still fighting to survive and Joe Rodon injured at the time, an exit made no sense and was shut down quickly. The Whites are now virtually safe from relegation, however, and the 27-year-old has been freshly linked with a return to the Bundesliga.
German outlet Kicker report that Bornauw is a ‘candidate’ for FC Koln this summer, with the Bundesliga side planning for a defensive restructure. Like Leeds, the Billy Goats have all but confirmed their top-flight status for another year - they are six points clear of the drop with two games left - and are now planning ahead.
Koln recruitment chiefs are believed to be in the market for defensive experience and know Bornauw well, given he played at the RheinEnergieStadion between 2018 and 2021. The towering centre-back played 57 games across all competitions during that spell, scoring an impressive seven goals.
Leeds United’s January stance on Sebastiaan Bornauw amid fresh links
Whether Bornauw moves on or not this summer is almost solely down to Leeds, with a further three years remaining on the defender’s deal and no particular need to sell. Having amortised the Belgian’s roughly £5m fee over that contract, the Whites will have around £3.75m book value left on their player, meaning they would need to receive an offer higher than that number to make a profit.
Speaking on the Inside Elland Road podcast back in January, YEP chief football writer Graham Smyth provided some insight into Leeds’ stance at the time: “There was interest in Sebastiaan Bornauw this month from Germany. I believe Mainz was one of those teams that was looking at him quite keenly, which almost surprised me in a way.
“Maybe it's because he hasn't played and maybe it's clubs that missed out on him in the summer coming back in and thinking, it's almost like a little [Facundo] Buonanotte thing that they were playing on thinking you've not played that much at Leeds. But he hasn't played that much at Leeds out of injury, not just out of selection.
“He has got in when he's been fit and played some minutes and looked pretty solid. We'll talk about Everton, but he's been pretty solid. But Leeds shut that all down very quickly, because for obvious reasons, they would not be minded to sell a centre-back this month.”