Star man Tanaka opens up on career frustration in emotional statement

One of the star performers of Leeds United's title-winning promotion season has opened up on feeling like giving up en route to the Premier League.

- by Graham Smyth

Leeds celebrated their Championship title and promotion back to the top flight with more than 150,000 fans in the city centre on Monday and Ao Tanaka was front and centre on one of the three buses parading the one-mile route.

The midfielder played a starring role this season, his first in English football, after a £2.9m move from Fortuna Dusseldorf in the German second tier.

A fully fledged Japan international, Tanaka had to bide his time to break into Daniel Farke's starting XI and it took serious injuries for Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev to bring about the opportunity.

But from October 1 when he first started a Championship game until the thrilling final day of the campaign in Plymouth, Tanaka started 37 games, scoring five goals and adding two assists.