Leeds United have started their second season back in the Premier League very well.
Nine points from our first six games see us sat in 7th position in the league. We have the same points tally as Liverpool, and just one fewer than Chelsea, who many tipped to challenge for the title this season.
Over the weekend, we suffered our first Premier League defeat of the season against Arsenal. But in truth, we were unfortunate to not get anything out of that game.
However, one Leeds player’s performance at the Emirates over the weekend certainly impressed me and had me questioning how we were seemingly willing to let him leave at one stage last season.
Ao Tanaka shines despite defeat at the Emirates
Ao Tanaka, 28, has featured in all but one of our eight games in all competitions this season, starting five of them.
Like the vast majority of the Leeds team, I was impressed with how Tanaka performed against Arsenal. I thought he was tenacious off the ball and composed when he was on it.
During that game, I was sat thinking about how we ever reportedly entertained the prospect of letting Tanaka leave.
Whilst the Japanese international looks to be undroppable now, he spent a lengthy stretch of last season on the bench. Of his 28 Premier League appearances last season, just 14 were starts. (Sofascore)
Between January and March this year, Tanaka was an unused sub in seven Premier League games in a row. Naturally, speculation began to build regarding the midfielder and a potential move away.
However, after putting in a dazzling display against West Ham in the FA Cup quarter-final last season in April, this was seemingly enough to get back in the team. Tanaka then ended the season by starting our last seven Premier League games.
Even as recently as June, Beren Cross reported that United’s hierarchy would be open to letting Tanaka leave if they received an appropriate offer.
But watching the way Tanaka ended last season and started the new campaign, it leaves you sitting there scratching your head, thinking, why was this ever the case?
Tanaka has been exceptional for some time now, and against Arsenal, it was further proof that he is more than capable of playing for a mid-table Premier League side.
Can’t see Ao Tanaka getting dropped for a lengthy spell again this season
When Tanaka did come out of the team last season, it was for Ilia Gruev.
Daniel Farke preferred the Bulgarian for the way he’d typically sit next to Ethan Ampadu and look after the ball.
There were points last season where Tanaka was a little naive. He gave the ball away in dangerous areas or vacated space in the middle of the park to go close someone down unnecessarily when we just needed to keep our shape.
Whilst Gruev is a far more limited player than Tanaka, he didn’t do these things. Gruev was more of a ‘steady Eddie’ in our engine room.
But since coming back into the team at the back end of last season, I think Tanaka has improved in these areas and learned to cope with the demands of the Premier League better.
Whilst he may come out of the team at points this season, with the way Tanaka has been performing in the Premier League since April, I can’t imagine him being benched for months on end like last season.
Farke often stressed last season that it was Tanaka’s first campaign in a European top-flight, and at times it showed.
But it’s fair to say Tanaka has established himself as a Premier League-level player in recent months. The game against Arsenal was further evidence of this over the weekend.
We should have never entertained it in the first place. But it’s good to see the transfer talk surrounding Tanaka is firmly a thing of the past.