Ao Tanaka will be hoping for a full Leeds United debut when Burnley travel to Elland Road on Saturday.
Tanaka has barely had chance to breathe since signing for Leeds on deadline day from Fortuna Dusseldorf, having flown to Japan for international duty just a couple of days later.
Daniel Farke did hand him a handful of minutes off the bench in Leeds‘ 2-0 win over Hull City, but he will now be looking to use these next few weeks to really make that midfield spot his own.
The 26-year-old did not take long to show what sort of impact he can have on Farke’s side, completing an impressive 18 passes in the brief time he had on the pitch.
He then produced a similarly impressive display as a substitute in Japan’s 7-0 win over China on Thursday.
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Leeds handed minor Tanaka boost ahead of Burnley
Ilia Gruev has been Farke’s first choice midfield partner for Ethan Ampadu in the opening four matches of the season, but there is no doubt his best position is just in front of the defence.
Unfortunately for him, he is competing against Ampadu for that position, who will always be first choice unless he is needed at centre-back.
Tanaka will be hoping he can take that spot away from Gruev as soon as possible and his lack of minutes in Japan’s second match of the international break may give him the upper hand.
Manager Hajime Moriyasu opted against bringing him off the bench in Japan’s 5-0 win in Bahrain, keeping him fresh for what is to come for Leeds.
On the contrary, Gruev played 90 minutes in both games for Bulgaria, though did have an extra couple of days of recovery time, with their second match coming on Sunday.
Either way, Tanaka’s lack of minutes is definitely good news for Leeds as it almost guarantees he will return to Elland Road with a clean bill of health.
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How did Leeds’ other internationals fare on Tuesday?
Tanaka was one of five Leeds players in action for their respective countries on Tuesday, alongside Junior Firpo, Wilfried Gnonto and Mateo Joseph.
Like Tanaka, all of those three were also on the winning side, with Firpo kicking off proceedings with an assist and 90 minutes in the Dominican Republic’s 2-0 win over Dominica.
Like Firpo, Gnonto also produced an influential display as he grabbed an assist in a 3-0 victory, helping Italy U21s take a big step towards qualifying for next summer’s European Championships against Norway.
Joseph, meanwhile, was again brought off the bench for the final half an hour for Spain U21s, as they defeated Hungary away from home.
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