Leeds United will have to negotiate to sign ‘incredible’ player but he could be available for bargain price

Leeds United are seemingly spinning a number of plates in the transfer window right now.

Manor Solomon became signing number six of the summer on Tuesday evening but he certainly isn’t expected to be the last through the doors this week.

Leeds now have less than three days to complete potentially up to three signings, with a number of positions still in need of strengthening.

At full-back, Leeds are interested in Bournemouth’s Max Aarons and Ajax’s Owen Wijndal, while in midfield, Ao Tanaka, Philip Billing and Gustavo Hamer have all been linked.

Leeds could also look at signing a new number 10 in Freiburg’s Roland Sallai, who would arguably be the signing of the summer in the Championship.

New twist in Leeds’ pursuit of Ao Tanaka

Having seen a £13 million bid rejected by Sheffield United for Hamer, it would appear Leeds have turned their attentions elsewhere in their search for a new midfielder.

The midfielder it seems they are prioritising now is 2023 summer target Ao Tanaka, who is still at Fortuna Dusseldorf after Leeds’ failure to sign him 12 months ago.

A report from the Daily Mail on Tuesday suggested Leeds were preparing to trigger Tanaka’s £2.65 million release clause, however BILD has a different update.

The German outlet have actually suggested Tanaka does not have a release clause in his contract, though it is unlikely to deter Leeds too much.

Tanaka is out of contract in less than a years’ time and so while Fortuna can negotiate on the price, BILD claim he would not bring in a great deal of money.

Considering his goalscoring record for both club and country in recent times, it feels like Leeds can secure themselves a real bargain here.

What Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna said about Tanaka

Tanaka came up against Leeds’ 2023/24 promotion rivals Ipswich Town in a friendly during the summer and was on the winning side, 2-1.

Post-match, McKenna was asked to pick one Fortuna player he would like to sign, and went with Tanaka as a result of his ‘incredible technique’.

He said: “Midfielder Ao Tanaka. Anyone who is serious about football will know a little about him. He has incredible technique. But there are other good players at Fortuna, too.”