Daniel Farke to take delight in Ao Tanaka developments away from Leeds United
Ao Tanaka has gone from strength to strength during his first season at Leeds United, both at club and international level.
Leeds’ midfield has been a step above the functional, one-dimensional engine room it was last season, with Tanaka at the helm, making 35 league appearances since his arrival.
Of those 35 appearances since signing from Fortuna Dusseldorf last August, 30 have been starts, with Tanaka being a perfect foil for either Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rothwell or Ilia Gruev in Daniel Farke’s double-pivot.
With just eight regular-season matches remaining this term and Leeds sitting top of the Championship, Tanaka is seen as a player who can make the step up to Premier League level fairly seamlessly.
Tanaka secures international achievement away from Elland Road
Leeds’ last eight matches of the season come after this month’s international break, during which Tanaka will be the furthest-travelled player as his Japan side face both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in Saitama.
| International Level | Leeds United Player(s) |
| Senior | Ao Tanaka (Japan); Ilia Gruev (Bulgaria); Isaac Schmidt (Switzerland); Junior Firpo (Dominican Rep.); Manor Solomon (Israel); Joe Rodon, Dan James, Karl Darlow (Wales) |
| Under-21s | Wilfried Gnonto (Italy), Mateo Joseph (Spain), Rory Mahady (Scotland) |
| Under-20s | Diogo Monteiro (Portugal), Darko Gyabi (England) |
| Under-19s | Sam Chambers (Scotland), Charlie Crew (Wales) |
However, the Whites posted via X to update Leeds fans with the news that Tanaka came off the bench at half-time in Japan’s 2-0 win over Bahrain on Thursday, securing them a place at the 2026 World Cup.
Japan, therefore, became the first of 48 nations (other than the three hosts) to qualify for the expanded competition next year, taking pressure off Tanaka’s shoulders for their second game with Saudi Arabia.
🇯🇵 Congrats to Ao Tanaka, who after playing 45 minutes in Japan’s 2-0 win over Bahrain, has helped them become the first nation to book their place in the 2026 World Cup pic.twitter.com/0qlSUmsbYf
— Leeds United (@LUFC) March 20, 2025
Leeds now look set to avoid ghosts of March 2024
Tanaka’s second international match of this month’s break being a dead-rubber, will be music to the ears of Farke, who saw his side’s season come undone 12 months ago after a brutal two weeks of fixtures.
Leeds’ automatic promotion hopes took a terminal hit after that break, with Wilfried Gnonto returning from Italy Under-21s duty injured and their quartet of Welsh players also suffering a crushing blow.
Ampadu, Dan James, Joe Rodon, and the since-departed Connor Roberts were all involved in Wales’ Euro 2024 qualifying play-off against Poland, losing on penalties after going through a full 120 minutes.
James missed the decisive kick of a match, which took everything out of Leeds’ four Welsh stars, and the free-flowing football which had been present before that international break was never seen again.
This break, however, has already seen the stakes lowered with Tanaka’s Japan sealing their place at the World Cup, and that could be a blessing for Farke as he hopes for all of his squad to return fit and firing.