Leeds United supporters have quickly learned that one of the sad truths about promotion to the Premier League is that not every player can continue on the journey.
Fans fell in love with players when they won 100 points in the Championship to secure the title and promotion in the 2024/25 campaign, but not all of them were ready to play top-flight football.
Joel Piroe, for example, was the club's top goalscorer with 19 league goals, the most in the division, and he has yet to score a single goal in any competition this term.
Piroe-Brownhill-Championship-top-scorers 24-25 (timeless)
The former Swansea centre-forward has only started two of his 11 appearances in the Premier League so far this season, as Lukas Nmecha and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have both been preferred ahead of him up front.
Piroe is not the only Leeds star from their 100-point season who has struggled with the step up in quality, though, as Wilfried Gnonto's time at Elland Road may also be heading to a conclusion.
Why Gnonto may leave Leeds in the summer
Gnonto showed signs of promise in his first Premier League season with the Whites, scoring two goals and providing four assists in 24 matches, before establishing himself as a star in the Championship.
The Italy U21 international scored 17 goals and provided nine assists in the second tier across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 campaigns combined, playing on either flank or through the middle as an attacking midfielder.
Unfortunately, though, he has failed to make the step up to the Premier League this time, with zero goals and one assist in 14 appearances in the top-flight.
Gnonto was unable to provide regular goal contributions as a winger in the first chunk of the season, and he is now struggling for minutes, being an unused substitute in three of the last four league games, because of the change in formation to a 3-4-2-1 or 3-5-2.
gnonto-birmingham-leeds
His lack of form and game time in the Premier League could see his future at Elland Road thrown into doubt ahead of the summer window, particularly if Leeds avoid relegation, as he may not want to sit on the bench for another year.
Now, his career in West Yorkshire could be completely ended if Daniel Farke throws one of his players in a brand-new role that could further limit Gnonto's game time.
The Leeds star who should play in a new role
In the FA Cup win over Birmingham last time out, the German head coach used the Italian winger as a right wing-back, because the new system does not have natural wingers, and he struggled, taking fewer touches than Lucas Perri and ending the game without a single chance created.
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Given his struggles against Birmingham and general lack of form in the Premier League, Farke could put an end to the forward's time at Elland Road by unleashing Ao Tanaka as a right wing-back.
That may sound bizarre at first, given that the Japan international - signed for a fee of around £3m - is a central midfielder, but it could be a move that makes a lot of sense in some matches.
Tanaka-Leeds-Liverpool
Since the change in formation, there have been matches where James Justin played as a right-sided centre-back and moved into central midfield to allow Jayden Bogle, playing as a wing-back, to play as a right-back in possession.
Farke could tweak that set-up by playing Tanaka as the wing-back and either Bogle or Justin as the right-sided centre-back, moving the Japanese star into midfield in possession with the centre-back breaking wide to make the back four.
|Leeds with Tanaka at RWB|
|Out of possession|In Possession|
|---|
|GK - Perri|GK - Perri|
|CB - Bogle|RB - Bogle|
|CB - Bijol|CB - Bijol|
|CB - Rodon|CB - Rodon|
|RWB - Tanaka|LB - Gudmundsson|
|CM - Stach|RCM - Tanaka|
|CM - Ampadu|CM - Stach|
|LWB - Gudmundsson|LCM - Ampadu|
|AM - Aaronson|RW - Aaronson|
|AM - Okafor|LW - Okafor|
|ST - Calvert-Lewin|ST - Calvert-Lewin|
This tactical tweak would allow Leeds to hold their 3-4-2-1 shape out of possession to protect their own goal effectively, whilst also having the right profiles on the pitch to dictate play in possession to ensure that there is enough quality on the pitch to create chances and score goals.
Tanaka, who was described as "different class" by journalist Josh Bunting, has only started seven of his 20 appearances in the Premier League this season, but has scored two goals and completed 84% of his attempted passes in that time.
tanaka-leeds
The 27-year-old star is not a natural wing-back, of course, but he is an athletic and mobile player who made 3.5 tackles and interceptions per game in the Championship, which shows that he can get around the pitch and could be suited to a wing-back role out of possession.
It is not a role he has played before, so it remains to be seen whether or not it would be successful, but his attributes and the way Farke has made tweaks to his system in game suggests that it could work.
Then, if Tanaka is effective in that hybrid wing-back role, Gnonto's career at Elland Road could be over in the summer as there would be yet another player between him and regular minutes.
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