What does new signing and Japanese international Ao Tanaka bring to Leeds United?
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00:00I think Tanaka is the one that could be the lowest key addition, but could prove to be the
00:07big surprise package. I really think that he's somebody who can be unlike a different style
00:14of player that any other championship team has. It's part of the reason why I genuinely don't
00:20think they need Gus Hamer. I'm not saying that Tanaka's anything like Hamer, but I do think that
00:27in midfield this year, you're going to see a lot more creativity, a lot more incision
00:33from deeper areas. From speaking to people who've watched Tanaka,
00:37and not just at Fortuna Düsseldorf or at the World Cup, but when he was in the J League,
00:43versatility is the big one that stands out. Technical ability is another thing that stands out.
00:49And as well, when Joe Rothwell was signed, I was looking at the numbers and pass accuracy and that
00:58sort of thing, and I was thinking, okay, yeah, you have maybe sacrificed a bit of ball retention
01:06and security in possession compared to Glen Kamara, whereas with Tanaka, I feel like you're
01:13getting the best of both. He's someone who is very active in possession, so it's not as though
01:20he's purely a transitional player. He's hitting all the big metrics, sorry, he's at the top of
01:29the percentiles for passes completed, passes attempted, over different distances as well.
01:36It's not like he's just someone who's going to, as you said, take one touch, pass it one side,
01:41receive it back, pass to the other. He's going to go for those medium to long range passes as well,
01:47as the simple Kamara-y ticking over sort of stuff. But he's also got a creative edge to him,
01:55so that's why I think that maybe not, I'm not saying that this will be the case, but
02:01I'd like to think that there'll be less of a reliance on that number 10, whoever it may be,
02:06to create this season.