Tarik Muharemovic’s long road to Leeds United — Square Ball 20/7/26

Please be great

Written by: Chris McMenamy

Fabio Grosso spent the first two months of his reign as Sassuolo manager in summer 2024 tinkering with a young, inexperienced squad that had undergone a serious overhaul after relegation from Serie A.

Unlike some, Grosso’s bosses weren’t stupid enough to allow their stars to leave on loan, but most of the team thought they were too good for Serie B, having been demoted mostly because star player Domenico Berardi tore his Achilles tendon with ten games remaining. As a result, they were left with a heap of returning loanees, some youth players and, in Berardi, a talisman with one working foot — so it’s no wonder they won only one of their first four games.

Grosso struggled to settle on a defensive pairing, as evidenced by a 4-1 thumping at home to Cremonese before the first international break. New signing Tarik Muharemovic, on loan from Juventus, sat on the bench throughout that game, watching on as the more experienced members of the team, centre-backs Matteo Lovato and Filippo Romagna, floundered.

A few weeks later, an injury to Lovato forced Grosso to introduce Muharemovic from the bench in a win at Cosenza, after which he was described as a player with “plenty of grit and personality”. A cup tie against top flight Lecce the following midweek provided Muharemovic with his full debut. He made the most of the opportunity, scoring the first goal in a 2-0 win.

Muharemovic’s career to now is a lesson in the virtue of patience. Five senior matches in Austria’s Bundesliga at the age of 18 was enough to convince Juventus to sign him, having made his debut for Wolfsberger in April 2021 against a Red Bull Salzburg side featuring Brenden Aaronson and coached by Jesse Marsch. And so it was written.

Italian football has an aversion to young players and is crippled by conservatism, so Muharemovic was promptly placed in Juve’s Under-20 side — known as Primavera — before graduating after eighteen months into their controversial ‘Next Gen’ project, an Under-23 side now allowed to play in Italy’s third tier. He was used to playing against teams everyone hated — see Marsch and the Bulls — but ended up playing 53 Serie C games.

Partnered with now Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen in Next Gen’s defence, Muharemovic featured in a team that finished 13th in Serie C/A despite also possessing Kenan Yildiz, now Juve’s main attraction, and Roma winger Matias Soule in attack. Sick of playing for a glorified reserve team, he pushed for first-team football further up the pyramid at a proper team — Sassuolo, the football club bankrolled by Mapei, a chemicals company.

Sassuolo signed him on loan with a €3m buy option and his full debut against Lecce proved the catalyst for a meteoric rise throughout the last two seasons. Muharemovic was instrumental in ensuring Sassuolo’s immediate return to Serie A and became a mainstay ahead of more senior players. Grosso made the most of his team’s dominance in Serie B, giving Muharemovic the chance to flex his muscles with the ball at his feet, including an excellent assist against Cesena when he threaded a pass between lines of defenders.

Back in Serie A, last season prompted a more balanced, disciplined approach from Grosso and Sassuolo, with an emphasis on playing vertically and being compact in defence helping them to finish 11th, comfortably clear of the relegation picture. Muharemovic’s style developed and his build-up play became a little more ambitious, playing balls in behind defences, though it’s an area of his game that could do with fine tuning.

His aerial dominance proved vital at both ends, scoring twice and setting up two more as he made a name for himself in the Italian mainstream, long before he went viral for being kicked by USA’s Folarin Balogun at the World Cup. Thankfully, this time no autocrat can step in and overturn his transfer to Leeds. (Although given our history we shouldn’t rule it out.) Muharemovic proved a rock in defence as Bosnia overcame both Wales and Italy in play-off penalty shootouts back in March, earning a place at this year’s World Cup.

Born in Slovenia to Bosnian parents and raised in Austria, Muharemovic became subject to international allegiance speed dating, but despite the prospect of playing alongside his new teammate Jaka Bijol for Slovenia, he was always going to play for Bosnia. As a child he was pictured at a Bosnian community five-a-side tournament watching his dad, Rasim, play after which the Mozaik newspaper wrote:

Three-year-old Tarik Muharemovic also travelled from Linz to Ljubljana. He caught the attention of those present by showing off his football skill and his Bosnia and Herzegovina national team jersey.

If only the journalist covering that tournament knew he was watching the future Leeds United FA Cup-winning goalscorer. Muharemovic often speaks about his dad attending almost all his matches since his days in Austria Karnten’s youth teams. Perhaps he was making sure those Austrian boys weren’t trying to pump him full of Red Bull and turn him into the next Max Wober.

Two years ago, Muharemovic spoke to Bosnian newspaper Oslobodenje after his first call-up for the senior team. “My role models are Emir Spahic and Edin Dzeko,” he said. “When I think every time that I finally met and got to know them, and that I trained with Edin, it’s a really indescribable feeling.” The Bosnian pride clearly runs deep in Leeds’ new defender, not least because he didn’t couple his country’s greatest ever player with someone daft like Cristiano Ronaldo or Neymar, instead choosing a compatriot.

Although he was sent off for a professional foul in Bosnia’s 4-1 defeat to Switzerland at the World Cup, he had a decent tournament overall and it’s clear that very little can faze him. He’ll need more of that “grit and personality” he displayed at Sassuolo if Premier League success is to come. Being tagged as one of Leeds’ most expensive players ever comes with pressure of its own, but his personality should go some way to convincing United fans that this is a move that could work out brilliantly.

In signing Muharemovic, Leeds have picked up a vocal leader for the defence, one perhaps quite similar to Bijol. Along with Joe Rodon, the United back three could be formidable next season. It’s not unreasonable to expect that Muharemovic will need a period of adaptation to the Premier League, as well as new teammates and his manager’s system, but the initial signs are certainly very positive.

Leeds’ recruitment team have earned plenty of credit for how methodically they approached last summer, even if it didn’t feel like it at the time. Losing Pascal Struijk is a heavy blow for this team to take, but replacing him with a younger, more aggressive, albeit less refined player shows a level of ambition that we’re still not used to seeing. Expecting Muharemovic to be an immediate upgrade isn’t fair, but watching him play for Italian football’s answer to Brighton has filled me with confidence that a year in the Premier League will only serve to bring the best out of him, if given time. Over the last two years he’s climbed to another level on multiple occasions, so why not once again?

Considering he’s only 23, Tarik Muharemovic’s journey to Leeds United has been a long one. From Slovenia to Austria, bouncing around youth teams before his debut at Wolfsberger. Juventus, academy football, the breakthrough at Sassuolo, a run to the World Cup knockout rounds and a mega-money move to the Premier League. It’s been a wild ride, yet there’s a sense that it’s only just beginning.