3 Things to know about Leicester transfer target Ao Tanaka

Leicester City are interested in Ao Tanaka from German 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf. The Japanese midfielder knocked Germany out of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, has been compared to Jude Bellingham and could be Leicester’s Youri Tielemans replacement.

Leicester City’s competition and Tanaka’s background

Ao Tanaka is a 24-year-old midfielder currently playing for Fortuna Dusseldorf. A £4.2m release clause for the Japanese international that expired in May has triggered an interest amongst City, West Ham, Fulham and West Brom.

Parachute money from the Premier League following Leicester’s relegation from the top flight of English football allows the Foxes to persuade Tanaka to the East Midlands. Leicester look to be in pole position with the prospect of an exciting project with a new manager and the target of being promoted being attractive. West Ham and Fulham could hold a pull factor with playing in the Premier League and the Hammers offering an opportunity to play in Europe. West Brom face tough competition and it seems unlikely the Japanese midfielder will join the West Midlands side. The Baggies are yet to make any ground-breakings signings and have seen the exits of players such as Dara O’Shea.

The 2. Bundesliga player made 22 appearances and scored on goal in the 2022/23 season for Die Flingeraner and 19 appearances with three goals scored for Japan. Tanaka previously played for Kawasaki Frontale. Winning the Japanese Champion 3 times, Japanese Cup once, Japanese League Cup once and Japanese Super Cup once. He was born in Kawasaki and was promoted to Kawasaki Frontale’s first team in 2017 after joining their youth setup in year 3 when he was 7/8 years-old. Tanaka later made his senior debut in September 2018 due to an injury.

It took the then 20 year-old just six minutes after coming off the bench in the J1 League to score his first professional goal, helping Frontale to go onto win the title. In the 2019 season he started 22 out of 24 J1 appearances and was named J.League Rookie of the Year – the only Frontale player to ever win the award.

Eliminating Germany at the 2022 World Cup

Tanaka scored the winning goal against Spain during the group stages of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The game, played at the Khalifa International Stadium, finished 2-1 to Japan with the young midfielder named as player of the match. The Japanese international’s historic winner against Spain eliminated Germany from the World Cup. The 24-year-old previously played for Japan at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Japan advanced from the group stages, topping Group A with all nine points. They went on to beat New Zealand 4-2 on penalties in the Quarter-finals and advanced to the semi-final against Spain where they lost 1-0. Japan then played Mexico, who lost 4-1 to Brazil on penalties in their semi-final, for the bronze medal, but lost 3-1. Tanaka started all three games.

Tanaka’s playing style

Goes box-to-box and starting to emerge as an on-field leader, he has also been compared to Jude Bellingham’s playing style and attitude. Leaders are exactly what LCFC need after their lack of them that lead to their relegation from the Premier League.

Tanaka averaged nine tackles won per 2. Bundesliga game during the 2022/23 season and he would attempt to drive forward when he could. The Japanese midfielder also took almost one shot per outing last season. He would aim to mix things up in between sprinting into the box, as well as taking shots from outside of the penalty area. It almost sounds like this could be Leicester’s Youri Tielemans replacement. Tanaka shares a lot of qualities with the former number 8 like taking shots from outside the penalty area, but will also take on a form of leadership and pace that Tielemans lacked during the 2022/23 season in the Premier League.