The club’s official website announced the signing of Japanese international Ao Tanaka from Fortuna Dusseldorf today, though it remains to be seen whether we will land any more of our targets before the 11pm deadline.
The 25-year-old has signed a four-year-deal, and he joins us for a fee reported as ‘undisclosed’ on the official website, but ‘in the region of €3.5million’ by The Athletic. Elsewhere I have seen him compared to Jude Bellingham, but if he was that good we wouldn’t be getting him for that sort of money. Presumably that just refers to his style of play.
The official Leeds site has described him as a versatile and energetic midfielder, who can operate across all areas in the middle of the pitch, including both attacking and defensive positions when required to do so. Tanaka began his career with Kawasaki Frontale in the J1 League, before moving to Germany in June 2021.
He made almost 100 appearances for Dusseldorf, to go with his 27 international caps for Japan. And he could be the one to provide the extra goals we’ve been looking for from midfield, as he scored 13 times in 42 matches in all competitions last season. And like every other player who has ever joined us, he was keen to tell LUTV how much he was looking forward to coming to Elland Road.
"Everyone says Leeds fans are amazing and the stadium atmosphere is amazing, so I can’t wait to play in front of the amazing supporters. I want to win in the stadium with so many supporters! Of course, we want to go to the Premier League which is why I came here so I want to make a contribution for the team.”
The new man will be eligible to face Hull City tomorrow afternoon, but it’s not clear if he will be joined by any other last-ditch signings. Some outlets have reported we have agreed a deal to sign Swiss full-back Isaac Schmidt for an initial £4.6m, which the Mirror think will rise if we get promoted. He has flown to Leeds for talks and a medical despite having played in a European club game last night.
But there has been no official announcement yet. He will give us the cover we need at full-back, but has also operated as a striker, central midfielder, and defensive midfielder, though surprisingly never in central defence. Perhaps he’s not quite tall enough. But his versatility will come in handy as he bids to become the Paul Madeley or Stuart Dallas of the mid-2020s.
But he could well be our last signing of the window, as we’re looking less likely to land any of our other targets. We were linked with Algerian winger Bachir Belloumi. but although he might well be at Elland Road tomorrow, that is because he is now likely to have signed for our visitors Hull City. Not that we need another winger anyway.
Earlier in the day we were chasing Freiburg attacker Rolland Sallai, with the fee is likely to exceed £8m including add-ons. Reporter Ben Jacobs reported the player would be open to the move, but others are suggesting that the club isn’t optimistic about clinching this particular deal. Nor does it look like will be signing Gustavo Hamer from Sheffield United, with the Blades rejecting every bid we have made so far.
Despite their history of selling their best players to Leeds they are sticking to their valuation of £18m, because despite their financial difficulties they see themselves as one of our promotion rivals. Whatever. We are unlikely to increase our offer of £13m, and the club have denied rumours that we were prepared to offer Piroe in part exchange.
One player we did reportedly make a huge bid for was Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Martin Baturina, supposedly for £25.5 million, according to Croatian outlet Sportske Novosti. They reported that his club were happy to accept the money, but it was the player himself who scuppered the deal.
But the 21-year-old wants to continue his development with his childhood club for now, and he hasn’t even been tempted by the possibility of playing top flight football for Serie A’s Fiorentina, who were our rivals for his signature.
And that’s it for now, though there may be more to report after 11pm tonight. Keep hitting that refresh button on your device!