When the Championship Team of the Season for 2024/25 gets released, one suspects it will be dominated by members of Daniel Farke’s promotion-winning Leeds United side.
Jayden Bogle and Junior Firpo have surely both nailed down a place.
Operating more like bonafide wide forwards than full-backs in a four-man backline, between them Bogle and Firpo have 23 goals and assists this term.
Manor Solomon, Dan James and Joel Piroe – especially after leapfrogging Norwich City’s Borja Sainz in the Golden Boot race thanks to his four-goal first-half against Stoke City – will all fancy their chances of being included.
Joe Rodon has been Leeds’ ‘standout performer’ throughout a near-fautless campaign, according to former Elland Road hitman Michael Bridges. Expect the towering Welshman to feature, probably alongside Burnley colossus Maxime Esteve.
The aforementioned Bridges, meanwhile, feels it would be bordering on insanity if the EFL judges cannot find a spot in their official Team of the Season for Leeds United’s midfield marvel Ao Tanaka.
Ao Tanaka ‘magnificent’ as Leeds United star shines in promotion victory
A £3 million signing from Fortuna Dusseldorf, one suspects that you could stick a zero on the end of that transfer fee and it would still not come close to explaining Tanaka’s value to the Elland Road cause.
Ao Tanaka was likened to Jude Bellingham during his time in Germany’s second tier. Like the Real Madrid superstar, the Japan international is less a ‘jack of all trades’ and a master of most.
A line-breaking distributor, a bone-rattling destroyer, a tempo-setting playmaker, and an occasional goalscorer.
Tanaka ranks top at Elland Road for interceptions, second for tackles, and fourth for passes per game.
“If he doesn’t get in the EFL Team of the Season, there’s something wrong,” smiles Bridges, who spent five years in West Yorkshire between 1999 and 2004. “The consistency level, the goals that he’s scored, magnificent.”
The introduction of the disciplined Ilya Gruev has allowed Tanaka to add another string to his already pretty full bow in recent months.
All four of his Championship goals have come since the turn of the year. Two long-range belters against Hull City and Millwall, a cheeky backheel against Sheffield Wednesday, and a wonderful flicked header in the season-defining 3-1 comeback win over Sheffield United.
Tanaka the ‘driving force’ behind Daniel Farke’s Leeds
By his own admission, a tearful Ao Tanaka was nearing breaking point a few weeks back. But, despite racking up more air miles than Michael Palin, the well-travelled Asian sensation has bounced back brilliantly to help Leeds over the line.
“He’s just grown and the balance of having him and his energy levels… the fact that he’s travelled with the internationals and has come back and been so fresh,” Bridges adds, watching Tanaka chow down on a slice of Italy’s finest as the promotion party begun at Elland Road
“He’s just sitting there so chilled munching on a pizza, like ‘it’s been so easy this season!’.”
“I always look at players who come into a league in their first season. And Ao Tanaka at Leeds, the centre-midfielder, has come into a club of that build and expectation levels and he has literally gone straight into the team and fit in really, really well,” former England international Lee Hendrie told Football League World.
“He’s been outstanding. He’s been absolutely brilliant. I think he’s been one of their outstanding players, particularly when they’ve had injuries in that midfield area. Both himself and Joe Rothwell have really stood out.
“But Tanaka, every time I’ve watched him, he’s got great ability. He can drive it forward and he’s been a real driving force for Leeds.”
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