Tarik Muharemović has a busy Wednesday ahead of him. Later on in the afternoon he'll have training at Thorp Arch, where it's also media day and players will take part in various challenges, interviews and photo shoots so club partners can create content.
The centre-half arrives in the offices at Elland Road for three extra duties - an interview with leedsunited.com, a Remembrance ceremony with veterans involved in the Combat Cafe and to pick up his second successive Hero of the Month Award, presented by Employment Hero.
Muharemović won the vote for the club's first monthly gong in August and repeated the trick in September. Despite an influx of Bosnian followers on the club's various digital platforms, data suggests there was no undue Balkan influence on the vote. The general fanbase simply thought the 23-year-old was worthy.
"When I arrived, I was a bit, in my thoughts, 'How is the league gonna be? How would I adapt here?' Because I know everyone's talking about the Premier League being a different world in football," he said. "Also, the tempo is high. That's all true. The tempo is really high, but I mean, thank God I settled in. Still, I've just played a few games. It's just a start. I have to continue like this, even better if I can, till the end, but Premier League is something different."
The youngster has already experienced the first and second tiers in Austria, where he made his senior debut against Leeds team-mate Brenden Aaronson, then of Red Bull Salzburg, along with Serie C, B and A in Italy. What he has found so far in the English top flight has been very much to his liking.
"You enjoy playing every game," he said. "There's not one boring game. Like in every game, something happens. In every game, every 20 seconds there's a chance. So there's no rest time, really. You're running the whole time, pressing the whole time, and obviously with the atmosphere as well. It's good.
"In Italy it's more tactical football. I think there's more defending than in the Premier League. You can't compare because it's two different types of football, and in Italy if you watch the matches back, I was never over halfway, I was never 20 metres away from the opposition goal. Here I become a striker, but I like it. It's the style I love to play and I want to play."
Muharemović's tongue might have been firmly lodged in his cheek when he described himself as a striker, but he does carry a goal threat when circumstances allow him to pop up in the opposition box. Ethan Ampadu's long throws or Anton Stach's set-piece deliveries appear to have a magnetic relationship with the Bosnian's head.
Data specialists Gradient Sports rank the Leeds defender third in the Premier League when it comes to the skill of heading at goal, behind Erling Haaland and Thierno Barry. When it comes to that particular ability among top-flight centre-halfs Muharemović is currently peerless. He's sent six headers goalwards and five of his successful aerial duels have led to a shot for Leeds.
"I think I learned it from my dad because he was also in the family or with his friends, always the best at heading," said the defender.
"So every time we trained together, it was him saying, 'You have to be better with the headers.' So I used to concentrate more on the headers. It's important. I was also at a young age, always the kid who goes up for corners, headers and stuff, so maybe the other players didn't do it. I did it. Obviously, now since I play the professional game, I had to adapt also. So I needed time to also get in shape to attack corners, to defend corners. I think there's still the possibility to be even better, but I'm quite happy right now."
Rasim Muharemović, the father and inspiration of Leeds' new set-piece weapon, is already known to supporters. He has followed in the footsteps of Ao Tanaka's parents, popping up on social media, pictured in away ends supporting the Whites. At Elland Road on Sunday the whole clan turned out, including a fellow professional footballer. The atmosphere wowed them and the man they came to cheer on.
"Amazing - I think it was the best atmosphere so far that I've seen," he said. "I've obviously played in games that had a lot of atmosphere for Bosnia, but I can't compare it because this was something really special. I felt the support. I felt how important this game is for the fans and for the whole club. I would just say I'm sad that we didn't get all three points.
"Everyone who came really enjoyed it. I also have a friend here who plays an hour away from us [Admir Bristrić, Leicester City]. He came to visit me to see the game, and I asked him, "How was the atmosphere?' He was like, 'I don't know what just happened,' because he felt everything. It was so amazing, so good. The family loved it.
"My dad loves it, he comes to every game, every away game. I know the away fans saw him at Forest. In Italy he also went to all the home games and some of the away games, but I think this year he said he can't miss any of the Premier League games. He's really enjoying it, and he also knows that Premier League is the best league in the world."
Muharemović's role in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United included putting that heading speciality to good use to assist Dominic Calvert-Lewin's equaliser. But contrary to popular opinion, the little chat the pair had on camera immediately before the ball was delivered into the box was not set-piece related.
"He said to look up when I have the ball to play a chip ball to him, like a long ball to him," Muharemović revealed. "Then I saw Anton is already taking the corner, so I had to go."
Muharemović, who can speak Bosnian, German, English, Italian and Slovenian, says Calvert-Lewin is one of the most vocal players in the dressing room along with captain Ethan Ampadu. He himself talks less there than he does out on the pitch. But it was evident from very early on in his time at Leeds that he is no shrinking violet. His initiation song, a German rap, was broadcast on Stach's YouTube channel. The performance was physical, to say the least.
"I've done this before," he said. "I think it was at Juventus when I was on pre-season with the first team. I rapped [this time] because I could hear only normal songs, slow songs. I was like, now we have to change some of the atmosphere, so I decided to rap again.
"I mean, to sing songs in front of the whole team is not the best thing, to be honest, for a player. But I'm a guy who loves it, who loves to make some atmosphere, to make some jokes. So I felt it was again a nice moment and the perfect moment to make the whole team laugh."
His penchant for being the life and soul helped the World Cup 2026 participant to integrate at Leeds, but he's grateful too for the welcome he received when he first joined up with the squad in America during their pre-season tour. So much so that he's reluctant to name players who made a big effort.
"Problem is, I think I would feel bad to say only one or two names because I had the opportunity to talk to everyone on the first day and they all helped me, talked to me about where I came from, how things were going, how I felt," he said. "When I arrived in America and saw all the players, the first who came up to me was Ethan Ampadu. He came straight to me to welcome me, tell me who the boys are and wish me good luck. I remember so many coming to talk to me, every one of the guys was really amazing to help me but I would feel bad if I miss some names."
Once settled in, Muharemović quickly formed part of a defensive unit that, after seven games, boasts the third-meanest goals against tally in the Premier League. He and his fellow central defenders have been particularly influential in that regard. James Justin he describes as 'a train' who can run for 95 minutes with no issue, and 'a fighter.' Nico Elvedi is 'the brain' in defence. "He's really smart how he defends and so calm on the ball," added Muharemović. Joe Rodon is 'flash' because of his speed and how he throws himself into duels with his head or legs. "He doesn't care, he just wants to defend the goal." And Jaka Bijol is 'a tank' - "If I saw him outside football, I would say he was a bodybuilder."
Assign your own descriptor to Muharemović. This is the club Norman 'Bites Yer Legs' Hunter called home. There is always a place for a tough-tackling defender at Elland Road, and like Hunter there is much more than that to Muharemović.
At 23 he has huge scope for growth from what is already an impressive amount of talent on and off the ball, but the word prospect probably doesn't cut it for a player operating so well at Premier League and international level. The comment sections of the club social media channels show the scale of the popularity he has in Bosnia, where he's a national treasure.
And as he tucks his second shiny award of the season into a plastic bag, he can already say the Leeds fanbase has declared him a winner. What he becomes known as in West Yorkshire is up to Leeds fans. How many shiny things he collects is for him to determine.
