Leeds United moved swiftly to plug one of the most significant gaps in their strongest XI. Only two players saw more minutes than Pascal Struijk last season.Karl Darlow has left a hole in goal, but Lucas Perri is at least on the books to take over until a new face arrives to challenge. Leeds, however, have nobody else capable of naturally filling the left side of their central defence.Two weeks on from Struijk’s move to Brighton & Hove Albion, Leeds reached an agreement with Sassuolo for Tarik Muharemovic. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international is expected to arrive for a package in the region of €40million (£34.1m).This would be among the most expensive transfers in the club’s history and comfortably the biggest outlay since 49ers Enterprises took control in 2023. So who is Muharemovic and what are Leeds in line for with such a significant investment?Muharemovic is a 6ft 4in, 23-year-old, left-footed centre-back. They are the headlines and, at face value, he fits the bill. He is another giant to dominate in both boxes.What is a slight departure from what we saw in last summer’s recruitment is Muharemovic’s age and experience. All 10 new faces a year ago were aged between 25 and 28 at the start of last season, each with recognised experience in Europe’s top leagues.Muharemovic may have fewer miles on the clock, but Leeds are hoping he has the time to vastly improve and, if the time comes for him to be sold, return a healthy profit on their investment.Time will tell how he adapts to the Premier League, but it is hard to ignore that he has only one season (2025-26) under his belt in one of the continent’s top leagues. In 2024-25, he helped Sassuolo to promotion from Serie B before continuing with them in Serie A last term.Muharemovic started 32 of Sassuolo’s 38 Serie A games, scoring twice and assisting two other goals. Before that, he was playing in Serie C, Italy’s third tier, with Juventus’s reserves.Struijk’s data from last season is a useful starting point for any comparison. In The Athletic’s bespoke dashboard for 2025-26 below, you can see the key metrics and descriptions which stand out.The Dutchman is a ball-playing defender who favoured progressive passing and involvement in the team’s build-up. Struijk’s passing wheel shows how he liked to play longer across the field or back inside to Jaka Bijol and Joe Rodon.Struijk’s propensity to compete in the air is clear from his aerial volume bar. Secondary to that aerial ability was his back-foot defending and link-up play.The former looks at more reactive defensive actions, measured as blocked shots and clearances per 90 minutes, but adjusted for United’s possession percentage. The latter underlines the percentage of short or medium-distance passes as a share of total passes made, showing the role Struijk played in patterns of play.