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Welcome to Leeds United in the year 2025, Sebastiaan Bornauw. The Peacocks’ third summer signing after Lukas Nmecha and Jaka Bijol, the big Belgian centre-back arrives from Wolfsburg on a four-year deal for a reported £5.1m. It continues Leeds’ theme for summer 2025: Land of the Giants.
Bornauw’s first club was Wydad Casablanca in Morocco, where he started out in their academy as an eight-year-old while his father worked in the country for two years, before Bornauw came through Anderlecht’s academy and graduated into the first team at 19.
He signed for newly promoted Bundesliga club FC Köln in summer 2019, only a year after making his senior debut. His first season at Köln saw him develop a reputation as — get this — a set-piece threat, scoring six times in 28 matches as they avoided relegation. Another promising campaign the following year saw him leave for Wolfsburg and Champions League football.
Bornauw spent the past four seasons at Wolfsburg and has played almost a hundred matches in that time, but hasn’t ever truly nailed down a starting spot as his own for more than a few months. That’s partly because Wolfsburg have always been able to identify talented defenders from across Europe and Bornauw has had to fight against the likes of Maxence Lacroix (now of Crystal Palace) and Micky van de Ven (Spurs), as well as last season’s breakout star, Konstantinos Koulierakis.
Three of Bornauw’s four caps for Belgium came in friendlies during his time at Köln, but he was included in the first two international squads of 2024/25. Last season involved Bornauw’s first real period of injury, missing eighteen matches with a series of knocks and illness. Couple that with him only having a year left on his contract and that’s probably why Leeds were able to get him at that price.
No, because it’s not the turn of the millennium and Leeds aren’t playing European football. Yet. But our new defender is the second player to arrive from Wolfsburg this summer after Nmecha.
Bornauw and Nmecha both joined Wolfsburg in the same summer and, four years later, find themselves at the same club again. Both received glowing references from Leeds United’s 2024/25 cult hero Josuha Guilavogui, but the seduction of Bornauw was slightly more intense. “I know Joss really well,” Bornauw told LUTV. “When I asked him what he thought about Leeds, he sent me like twenty voice messages because we were both in the airport and couldn’t call. So yeah, like twenty voice messages, all one minute [long]. How good it is, how great it is, that it would fit my character. He was so positive. I know the people liked him here.”
Cheers, Joss. Now go out and sign some of your other ex-teammates. Antoine Griezmann and Jan Oblak would be nice, thanks.
Other than signing for Leeds United, it would have to be his final goal for FC Köln in May 2021. His team went into the final day of the Bundesliga season in the bottom two and headed for automatic relegation to the second tier.
They hosted already relegated Schalke on the final day, needing to win while hoping that Werder Bremen didn’t. Just before half-time, Bornauw stood on the edge of the box with his arms aloft as Köln striker Sebastian Andersson ran through on goal, only to shoot straight at the ‘keeper.
Bornauw reacted immediately and found space in the area, calling for the cross to land on his head. It did and he provided the perfect defender’s header past the Schalke goalkeeper.
Köln won 1-0 and survived after beating Holsten Kiel in a relegation play-off.
Giving away an 87th-minute penalty on his international debut. Belgium led 1-0 against Cote d’Ivoire going into the final few minutes of the friendly when Wilfried Zaha made a driving run towards goal. Bornauw was beaten and tried to make up for it by grabbing Zaha’s jersey, not aware that the man made a living from winning cheap fouls.
Franck Kessie scored and the match ended 1-1.
He arrived from nowhere, as so many recent Leeds United signings have. It all began with Graham Smyth’s exclusive on Monday morning, the reporting of which seemed to irritate some people.
Report transfers in pound sterling, this isn’t Ireland
— Matthew (@Matt_EarthPro) June 30, 2025
By Tuesday evening, Bornauw was sat down with LUTV for his arrival interview.
Nice background there. I wonder where they got the inspiration for it.
Bornauw appeared relaxed, as though he were in a coffee shop with an old friend. He also gave us some inside information on how long Leeds were courting him: “I saw a lot of games because the interest was quite early. So from the end of January, I tried to see every game. I followed, I would say, the second half of the season.”
Presumably, by winning lots of headers. “I think as a centre-back, I am dangerous in front of the goal. I like set pieces, offensive set pieces.” That sounds like fun. If Leeds United are to survive in the Premier League, they will almost certainly need to increase their prowess from set pieces, at both ends of the pitch.
While our new defender isn’t renowned for his prowess on the ball or his pace, he enjoys getting stuck in and that’s a trait that Leeds will need in the Premier League. It helps that he’s 6ft 3ins tall and looks like one of Hans Gruber’s henchmen.⬢
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