Fortuna Düsseldorf would be happy to sell midfielder Ao Tanaka in the January transfer window, if Leeds United want to revive their summer interest in him.
That’s according to Express, who say the German side have a decision to make over the midfielder in the upcoming window.
They explain that Tanaka has wanted to leave the club for a long time and came close to doing so in the summer, when several sides, including Leeds, looked at a possible deal.
None of those made ‘any serious advances’ for the player, though, and he ended up staying where he was for the time being.
He’s been in and out of the first team since, with some disappointing performances alongside ones where he has been the real star of the show, further muddying the waters on what Fortuna should do with him.
For now, both they and the player seem to have settled on an agreement that if an offer is made for him in January, Fortuna will ‘not put any obstacles’ in his way.
This was recently reiterated by sports director Klaus Allofs at a general meeting in mid-November and is presumably supported by Tanaka, who made it clear he wanted to leave in the summer.
The question is whether any clubs will put €3m on the table after Allofs and sports director Christian Weber put that price on the player’s head in the summer.
No talks happened until deadline day in that window and the various clubs looking at him, including Leeds, failed to make any ‘serious advances’.
Whether that has now changed in the months in-between remains to be seen but the deal is certainly there to be done if they want it.
