Leeds United favourite Ao Tanaka reveals team-mate first impressions and London exiles meet-up

Ao Tanaka arrived at Thorp Arch as part of a summer transfer deadline day double act back at the end of August. He and Swiss defender Isaac Schmidt completed Leeds' body of summer recruitment work to beef up Daniel Farke's options in two key areas. For Schmidt it remains a waiting game to prove he can break into Farke's starting XI and though Tanaka also had to bide his time for an opportunity, he grabbed it with both hands to become a vital part of the Whites' midfield picture.

Just once since his first start has Tanaka dropped out of the side and onto the bench and that, Farke explained, had a lot to do with the Japan international adapting to life without a winter break. And though the 26-year-old has had to do a job as a number 6 in a more defensive role than the one he would favour, the goals have started to go in. At Hull City he bent the ball beautifully into the net from outside the area and in his very next league outing against Sheffield Wednesday his instinctive flick turned a Largie Ramazani shot into a goal.

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Fans quickly took to Tanaka once they saw him play and his performances have cemented him as a fan favourite as well as one of the first names on the team-sheet. But his first day at Thorp Arch was eye-opening according to the man himself because he saw players who could make him better.

"When I came here, I think it was the last day in the market, so I just played one training session before the game," he told the club's matchday programme. "I was thinking: 'Everyone has so much quality, like so much physicality, quickness, skill as well.' I was thinking: 'If I play with these team-mates I can improve my quality and I will be able to enjoy playing football with these team-mates.'"

Tanaka, who believes he has a lot to improve, modestly credits his fellow Leeds players for getting so much out of him so far since his £2.9m move from the German second tier.

"So that's why my performance is getting better, because my team-mates' quality is so high and because everyone has helped me on the pitch," he said. "We have so many good players in each position - competition in the winger, centre-back roles...every position. This is important for us because every training session, every game, everyone needs to prove our performance. This is important and this is what I want."

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Tanaka and Leeds are back in action on Wednesday night when they host Norwich City, against whom the midfielder made his full debut back in October. Defeat at Bramall Lane on Saturday at the hands of Sheffield United snapped a four-game unbeaten streak in the Championship for the Canaries, who had won three of their previous four and drawn the other. The Whites take a nine-game league unbeaten run into the midweek meeting. They are also without a defeat at Elland Road in 12 league and cup games. The intensity of the fixture schedule has not been lost on Tanaka, who admits the festive period was not easy to adapt to.

But there have been moments of downtime in which he has been able to switch off from the Championship title race. Tanaka recently headed south to catch up with some of his fellow Japanese exiles. The Leeds man is childhood friends with Brighton star Kaoru Mitoma and the pair came through the youth ranks at Kawasaki Frontale together.

“A few weeks ago I went to London in our time off to meet some other Japanese players,” he said. “We have so many games, it’s not easy to go and meet together or eat something or do something like that. But we always talk about the games, our football or our performances. So it’s good for Japan to increase the number of players in England.”