Jonathan Leko

West Bromwich Albion

Leko joined West Bromwich Albion at the age of 11. According to the club's academy manager, Mark Harrison, he was "a bit of a rough diamond", but by the under-14s he had developed an understanding of the game and was showing considerable creative ability. He was included in the first team's 2015 pre-season tour of Austria, during which he came off the bench in a 3–1 loss against Red Bull Salzburg. Leko made his competitive debut on 23 September 2015 as a 77th-minute substitute in a League Cup defeat to Norwich City. On 2 April 2016, he was named in the matchday squad against Sunderland, and came on for Saido Berahino in the 78th minute to make his Premier League debut at the age of 16 years and 344 days. When he took the field on 30 April against West Ham United, Leko became the first player born in 1999 to start a Premier League match. In the last match of the season, a 1–1 draw with Liverpool, he set up Salomón Rondón's goal with a solo run. Before the match, Leko received the club's Young Player of the Season award. On 28 June, he agreed terms on his first professional contract, a three-year deal lasting to June 2019. He made nine Premier League appearances for West Bromwich Albion in 2016–17. Away to Stoke City on 24 September 2016, he took a corner from which Rondón headed a stoppage-time equaliser. He then won the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award for December with the West Bromwich Albion U23s. Leko was one of 98 nominations for…

Leko represented England at under-16 level. He was ever-present for the under-17s in qualifying for the 2016 European Championships. Against Turkey in the elite round, he set up the first goal for Reiss Nelson and scored the second in a 3–1 win. However, he was unable to take part in the tournament proper because West Bromwich Albion pulled him out of the squad so that he could play in the final two games of the Premier League season. Leko received his first call-up to the England under-18 team for friendlies against Italy and Israel in September 2016; he appeared in both games. He made four friendly appearances for the under-19s in 2017, but played no competitive matches at that level. Leko made his under-20 debut on 5 September 2019, starting in a goalless draw with the Netherlands at the New Meadow, Shrewsbury, and played twice more at that level.

As of 10 March 2026

Leko was born in 1999 in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He came to England at the age of eight with his father, who was granted asylum. He grew up in the Nechells area of Birmingham, and after he joined West Bromwich Albion's football academy, he was educated at Sandwell Academy, opposite the club's stadium.