Sebastiaan Bornauw should be labelled as missing despite multi-million Leeds United developments
Sebastiaan Bornauw’s situation at Leeds United should be ringing alarm bells for everyone involved.
Leeds paid £5.1m for Bornauw in the summer, and the defender is yet to make a single Premier League appearance since joining from Wolfsburg.
The Belgian hasn’t featured once on Daniel Farke‘s bench since the Whites’ clash against Burnley back in the middle of October.
Bornauw has struggled with a recurring knee injury; however, Leeds’ medical team have been fantastic in getting players back fit quickly.
Except in Bornauw’s case.
Sebastiaan Bornauw has a long history of absence
The 49ers have been criticised for their summer spending, with an overwhelming number of suggestions claiming Leeds wasted a perfect opportunity to improve their squad before the start of this season.
Bornauw initially started his time at LS11 on the wrong foot, picking up a quad injury during pre-season, and has been haunted ever since.
According to Transfermarkt, the centre-back missed a total of 18 games for Wolfsburg last campaign through a mix of bone oedema, a foot injury, and muscle problems.
| Minutes | Tackles won percentage | Accurate passes | Rating |
| 90 | 100% | 94/99 | 6.8 |
His first and only Leeds minutes came in the penalty shoot-out loss to Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup in August.
Bornauw managed to get through that game fine and displayed fantastic passing range and defensive capabilities.
However, we’ve seen this before with forgotten Leeds signings, and it would be no surprise to see him fail to ever get minutes again for the Whites.
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What has Daniel Farke said about Bornauw?
Leeds’ boss has rarely tampered with the Whites’ defensive backline, so even if Bornauw manages to gain fitness, it’s doubtful that he will feature anyway.
But Farke is on the verge of being sacked at Leeds, following poor performances in the league, and the Belgian could benefit from his dismissal.
However, Farke said Bornauw was close to a return against Aston Villa, but we will have to wait patiently to see if the defender can make the squad against Manchester City on Saturday.
Time will tell, but this story seems all too familiar for Bornauw and Leeds.
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