Credit: Manh Tung/Breaking Media

James Barker

Sat 4 April 2026 16:10, UK

Ao Tanaka and Sean Longstaff could be battling to win transfer favour with Leeds United decision-makers ahead of the summer, and it’s the former who is probably losing.

Ethan Ampadu and Anton Stach are forming an excellent central midfield pairing in the heart of Leeds’ team, and that’s bad news for every other Whites player in that position.

Tanaka has been one of the big losers of Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League, as the Japanese international has started just seven league games this season.

Meanwhile, it’s not been plain sailing for summer signing Longstaff either, with the 28-year-old making just 10 league starts in Daniel Farke‘s team this term.

So, with just seven games remaining in Leeds’ Premier League season, these two central midfielders may well be in a direct competition to keep hold of a place in the squad for 2026-27 ahead of the summer transfer window.

How do Ao Tanaka and Sean Longstaff’s stats compare?

Tanaka is being tipped to leave Leeds when the transfer window re-opens in June, as despite playing a vital role in the Championship title-winning campaign of last season, the 27-year-old has regressed into a backup role this term.

Many Leeds fans aren’t overly thrilled about that either, as he showed himself to be a really classy central midfield player in the second tier, and didn’t show any signs of not being able to handle the jump to the top flight.

Alas, the arrivals of the aforementioned Longstaff and Stach have pushed him down the pecking order, and in the prime of his career, he’s sure to want more regular football moving forward.

So, with central midfield perhaps being Leeds’ deepest department in terms of strength in depth, it’s here that Elland Road chiefs can probably afford to commission an exit or two in the summer to accommodate upgrades elsewhere.

But should it be Tanaka or Longstaff who is closer to the exit door than the other? Well, using numbers from Sofascore, it’s probably going to be the former.

Longstaff has a slightly better passing accuracy of 85 per cent compared to Tanaka’s 84 per cent, and also beats him with a 91 per cent pass success rate in his own half, whilst Tanaka’s is 89 per cent respectively.

The Englishman also trumps him for ground duels won (55 per cent/43.1 per cent), tackles won per game (2.2/0.8), long ball accuracy (43.3 per cent/39.1 per cent) and big chances created (six/one).

Longstaff’s one goal and two assists also just beat Tanaka’s two goals and zero assists for direct goal contributions, and despite playing 182 more league minutes, Longstaff has appeared in four fewer games.

Tanaka’s Leeds future could be secured if Whites are relegated

So, with Longstaff largely posting superior underlying numbers over Tanaka, and given that he’s only been in West Yorkshire for one season compared to Tanaka’s two, he is probably more safe than his comrade.

However, should Leeds end up back in the Championship next season, then a player like Longstaff may not be up for sticking around in the second tier.

Tanaka, meanwhile, may well have little issue staying at Elland Road in the second tier given that’s the division he joined the Club in back in the summer of 2024, and proved himself to be a top player at that level.

In that respect then, Tanaka could actually resurrect his Leeds career if the team is relegated, but that’s certainly not what he will be thinking about going into the final seven games of the season.