Leeds United completed the signing of Ao Tanaka from Fortuna Düsseldorf on deadline day.
Tuesday’s edition of Rheinische Post gives an insight into why Leeds made a late attempt and what convinced the German club to sanction a move.
Fortuna Düsseldorf were aware of the Championship side’s interest towards the end of the last window.
He had less than a year left on his deal and refused to sign an extension. The German club had to cash in from the 25-year-old’s sale, to avoid losing him for free next summer. The Whites paid €3.5-4m to buy the Japan international last Friday.
RP state Tanaka was ‘never the first choice’ for Leeds. They decided to bet on him, after missing out on other targets. This didn’t please Daniel Farke, who had a disagreement with the English club’s leaders.
It’s claimed Leeds’ failure to sign other targets forced them to invest on signing the Japan international.
Fortuna Düsseldorf sporting director Klaus Allofs has now insisted that there was no need for his side to sell Tanaka to Leeds.
“The targets we set ourselves in sport have been exceeded. We didn’t actually have to sell Tanaka, we had already realised the transfer surplus we had planned,” he said.
“But we’re all in the same boat. We cannot say that one hundred percent of the money from sport is used again in sport. Many things have not yet developed the way we would like. So, we can’t put everything into the team. The fact is that we all act very carefully and do not take any unpleasant risks. The fact is without the sale of Ao, we would not have been able to fill all positions.”
It feels like Allofs and his side are annoyed over losing Tanaka to Leeds. This report comes just days after the same outlet indicated his transfer to Elland Road was seen as a great news for the German club.
