Japhet Tanganga could seal himself a Premier League return this summer, potentially so with Leeds United, after the former Spurs man’s incredible 2024/25 season with Millwall.
Japhet Tanganga scooped a host of individual Player of the Season awards with Millwall after his stunning 2024/25 season, scoring twice in 40 Championship games for the Lions who eventually finished in 8th.
Since the end of the season, Leeds United have been closely linked with Tanganga. It’s understood that Tanganga has a £1.2million release clause at The Den and that Daniel Farke is willing to pay that this summer.
But that clause can only be activated by a Premier League club. On top of that, Tanganga would prefer a move abroad this summer and there’s no shortage of interest in him on the continent either, with Bundesliga clubs showing an interest.
Japhet Tanganga looks on for Millwall prior to game vs Sheffield Wednesday.
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Alex Neil on Japhet Tanganga’s Millwall future amid Leeds United transfer rumours
For Millwall, selling Tanganga to the Bundesliga makes much more sense, as they could really up the value from this incredibly low £1.2million release clause. Speaking to Southwark News, Lions boss Alex Neil insists that the club isn’t actively looking to sell any players, though he admits that every player has a price tag, potentially opening the door for a Leeds move for Tanganga.
When asked if Tanganga stays at The Den going into next season, Neil said: “I hope so. I don’t think there’s anything at the moment that suggests otherwise for us.
“I know there’s a lot of speculation, as there always is… But as always, we’re not naive. We are not actively looking to try and sell anyone. We want to try and retain the squad, and we want to try and grow and build and be good this season. Equally, if somebody comes in with offers that are way beyond what we would maybe have as an evaluation of a player, then certain decisions may well get made.”
Neil added: “What I will tell you is we have no ambitions or certainly no effort is going into trying to move any of our players. We want to keep them here. We like them. We think they’ve got real growth in terms of them individually, but also us as a team. And we want to try and make sure this year is a good year for us.”
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Are Leeds United really about to sign another defender?
So far this summer, Leeds United have signed four new players and three of them have been defenders, in Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bornauw, and Gabriel Gudmundsson.
Next, it looks like Farke wants to sign a new midfielder with Sean Longstaff having been linked with Leeds United quite heavily in the last two weeks, though whether he does eventually move to Elland Road remains to be seen.
Where a move for Tanganga is regarded; expect Leeds to have shifted priorities from another defender signing, especially from Tanganga where his preference is clear and with Millwall’s desire to keep him now clear too.
This release clause is obviously tempting but there may be a reason why no club has actually triggered it yet: there might be finer details which makes the move not as simple as it seems, and expect Millwall to be holding out for much larger sums than £1.2million for their key player this summer.