{"id":895494,"date":"2026-04-15T10:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/895494\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:41:16","slug":"ao-tanakas-agent-backed-to-engineer-leeds-move-to-join-coventry-as-talks-mooted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/895494\/","title":{"rendered":"Ao Tanaka’s agent backed to engineer Leeds move to join Coventry as talks mooted"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"Ciaran <\/p>\n

Wed 15 April 2026 10:44, UK <\/p>\n

Ao Tanaka could move to Coventry City if he was to push for a transfer away from Leeds United<\/a> this summer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa, and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to\u00a0Football Insider<\/strong>, who thinks Leeds will open contract talks to keep Tanaka at Elland Road.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old\u2019s contract at the club does not expire until 2028, but he has only started eight Premier League matches for Leeds this season.<\/p>\n

The Japan international could leave in order to be guaranteed greater playing time elsewhere, although he has started Leeds\u2019 last two matches.<\/p>\n

Leeds\u2019 Premier League status will determine their transfer activity<\/a>, and their 2-1 win at rivals Manchester United means they remain on course to stay in the top flight.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd04 Leeds United Transfer Update \ud83d\udd04<\/p>\n

Breaking news on latest signings, departures, and contract news from the Elland Road boardroom.<\/p>\n

VISIT THE LEEDS TRANSFER HUB<\/a> <\/p>\n

MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n

Coventry backed to pursue Ao Tanaka<\/p>\n

Everton\u2019s former chief Keith Wyness \u2013 who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs \u2013 believes Coventry would be best placed to make a move for Tanaka in the summer.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the new edition of\u00a0Football Insider<\/strong>\u2018s Inside Track podcast<\/a>, Wyness though is expecting the midfielder to be a Leeds player next season.<\/p>\n\nMinutes Played<\/td>\n837<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nSuccessful Passes<\/td>\n84.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nChances Created<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nSuccessful Dribbles<\/td>\n33.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nDuels Won<\/td>\n45.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Ao Tanaka\u2019s Premier League stats for Leeds this season.<\/p>\n

He told\u00a0Football Insider<\/strong>\u2018s Inside Track podcast: \u201cTanaka\u2019s got some quality, that\u2019s for sure. Now that Leeds are looking as though they\u2019re safe, I think they\u2019ll open up contract negotiations. <\/p>\n

\u201cLeeds will want to keep him. If Tanaka was to go anywhere, he would probably be going to one of the newly promoted clubs. Coventry would be the one that I would place him at. And that may be something that his agent will be trying to keep Leeds honest in terms of the contract negotiations. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think he\u2019ll end up back at Leeds now after that win against Man United. That was quite an important sign for him and them. And I think that we\u2019ll expect to see Tanaka in the white shirt next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leeds to hold further contract talks with star<\/p>\n

Sources have told Football Insider<\/strong> that Leeds also want to tie down Brenden Aaronson to a new contract<\/a> at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Aaronson enters the final year of his current contract in the summer, and has emerged as a key player under Daniel Farke this campaign.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old is set to feature for the USA at this summer\u2019s World Cup, which could spark further interest from clubs in the transfer window.<\/p>\n

Leeds do not want Aaronson to leave the club on a free transfer, and are confident of the midfielder remaining at Elland Road if they secure Premier League safety.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udea8 Don\u2019t Miss a Beat: Your Leeds United Insider Access\n <\/p>\n

Get the full story from Elland Road and Thorp Arch with our dedicated expert hubs:\n <\/p>\n

Updated 24\/7 with expert analysis from the heart of West Yorkshire. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wed 15 April 2026 10:44, UK Ao Tanaka could move to Coventry City if he was to push…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8814],"tags":[12409,748,393,4884,118044,1860,2922,16,15],"class_list":["post-895494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-leeds","tag-ao-tanaka","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-keith-wyness","tag-leeds","tag-leeds-united","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116408306213870143","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}