Daniel Farke made a sensational comparison regarding his Leeds team (Credit: Imago)
Leeds United remain three points clear of the relegation zone as they continue their fight to secure Premier League survival.
While their place in the top flight is still not guaranteed, the club have already started preparing for the summer by identifying targets in key areas.
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If they do stay up, Leeds are expected to strengthen their goalkeeping options and add depth in midfield, with Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney among the players on their radar.
However, Leeds also need to sell a few players to make space for new signings, and recent indications suggest that Sebastiaan Bornauw is more or less done at Elland Road.
Sebastiaan Bornauw is likely to leave Leeds after Daniel Farke’s decision
Leeds paid little over £5m to sign the centre-back from Wolfsburg last summer, despite his injury record in Germany over the last two seasons.
He suffered an injury setback during pre-season, and since then, he has never really managed to carve out a niche for himself in the Leeds team.
Bornauw is the fourth or fifth choice centre-back in the Leeds squad, and has only been called into service in league games when a couple of defenders are injured.
He started in the FA Cup win over Norwich City. However, he was hooked off at the break as a clear sign of his lack of fitness to compete for 90 minutes.
Farke has opted against using him from the bench in the last four Premier League games, and he is firmly on the fringes of the squad at the moment.
He has made just nine Premier League appearances this season, with only four of them coming in the starting eleven.
Bornauw is unlikely to get many minutes under his belt in the last eight Premier League games of the season unless one or two centre-backs suffer an injury.
Leeds need more reliable centre-back options
If Leeds end up securing Premier League football one more season, they will have to be spot on again in the summer transfer window.
They can’t afford to stand still, and the 49ers’ intentions suggest that they want to bring in upgrades rather than just sign like-for-like replacements.
Farke is likely to persist with his 5-3-2 formation next season, which means Leeds need better cover in defence in the summer transfer window.
Bornauw is not a reliable option and is almost certain to get sold in the upcoming summer to bring in a better or younger centre-back with a higher ceiling.
It seems likely that the defender is also open to a move, having been keen to leave in the winter window when interest arrived from Germany.
A summer departure would work well for everyone, as it seems unlikely that he would ever emerge as one of the starting centre-backs at Elland Road.