Jaka Bijol receives Slovenia call-up as ninth Leeds international, June friendlies extend season | OneFootball

Jaka Bijol has been named in Slovenia’s squad for June friendlies, becoming Leeds United’s ninth international call-up and extending his season into next month.

According to yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk, Slovenia will host Cyprus in Ljubljana on 4 June before visiting Croatia on 7 June. They missed out on 2026 World Cup qualification in November, losing 2-0 to Kosovo then drawing 1-1 with Sweden.

The defender capped an excellent first year at Leeds after a £15 million move from Udinese last summer. After waiting until late October for his Premier League debut, he became a regular under Daniel Farke, featuring in all but five league games since.

He made 25 Premier League appearances, scoring once with a bullet header against Chelsea, and registered two assists. Bijol has thrived since Farke’s switch to a back three, anchoring between Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk.

Bijol recently said he could not have wished for a better season, that he enjoyed it throughout and felt supported even when he was not playing. He was glad to contribute to a team he felt were outstanding.

Four team-mates head across the Atlantic for this summer’s major tournament, with Brenden Aaronson in the USA squad, plus Gabriel Gudmundsson for Sweden, Ao Tanaka for Japan and Noah Okafor for Switzerland.

Bijol is among five involved in friendlies, with Karl Darlow, Ethan Ampadu, Daniel James and Rodon called up by Wales for games against Ghana and Romania.

Source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk