Towards the end of August, Bild reported Fortuna Düsseldorf’s Ao Tanaka could end up at Leeds United after they tabled an offer to acquire his signature.
The Whites then appeared to walk away from the deal, for whatever reason, and the player is stuck with his current club.
Thursday’s Rheinische Post states Leeds, VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchengladbach all wanted to sign him, and Fortuna Düsseldorf ‘even reduced’ the asking price to sanction his transfer.
It’s claimed Fortuna Düsseldorf sporting director Klaus Allofs wanted to sell the 24-year-old for profit and use those funds to strengthen his squad, but he wasn’t able to get rid of the player as the transfer ‘never became concrete’.
The report says it’s ‘not an easy time’ for the Japan international, who wanted to change clubs this summer, to defend his place in the national team.
Ísak Jóhannesson and Yannik Engelhardt currently seem to be ahead of the Japanese but Fortuna Düsseldorf manager Daniel Thioune has insisted he’s happy Leeds and other clubs weren’t able to take Tanaka away from the club.
“He is there. I don’t think he alone decides how long he’ll be there, otherwise things might have changed already. I’m happy that he’s with us,” he said, as relayed by Rheinische Post.
