Who is MK Dons’ latest signing Jonathan Leko?

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Jonathan Leko may only be 23 but he has plenty of EFL experience under his belt already.

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With nearly 140 appearances, Leko has also racked up an impressive £1 million transfer fee too when Birmingham City pounced for him in August 2020 from neighboursWest Brom.

He arrives at Stadium MK for an undisclosed having played nine times for the Blues this season, eight of those appearances in the Championship.

Dons fans may remember him scoring against their side last season for Charlton Athletic - the only goal of the game at The Valley in the Papa John's Trophy in January 2022. A regular for the Addicks while on loan, he played 36 times last season.

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Leko's career began as an 11-year-old at West Brom, having moved from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Birmingham three years prior. He made his debut for the Baggies at the age of 16 in the League Cup, before making his Premier League debut seven months later. He became the first player born in 1999 to start in the top flight when he took to the field against West Ham in April 2016, and made a total of six appearances for West Brom that season.

The forward continued to make sporadic appearances the following season, but West Brom were relegated in 2018 with Leko playing just twice for the first team. Instead, he was loaned out to Bristol City where he made 11 championship appearances.

In August 2019, Leko made the first of what would turn out to be two loan spells to Charlton. Playing 21 times, he netted five goals in the Championship, but he suffered a cruciate ligament injury which ruled him out for nearly a year. Unperturbed though, Birmingham City parted with a fee understood to me £1 million for the 21-year-old.

After making 34 appearances for the Blues in his first season at St Andrews, he returned to Charlton last season on loan, before returning to the Midlands.

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