Leeds United manager Daniel Farke faces a pleasant dilemma with the return of captain Ethan Ampadu and the strong performances of Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell. Finding the right starting combination for their midfield will be a key challenge.
Crowbarring Ethan Ampadu , Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell into the same Leeds United team is one of those quality problems Daniel Farke could not have dreamed about in October. When he discovered the severity of Ilia Gruev’s knee injury, four days after losing his captain until 2025, the manager had to concede a free agent would be needed to salvage his engine room.
There was angst about how Tanaka and Rothwell, better known as attacking central midfielders, would work as a double pivot with immense defensive responsibilities. And all this with a grand total of 308 Championship minutes between since the start of the season. Josuha Guilavogui was recruited to ensure Charlie Crew would not be thrown in at the deep end if, God forbid, Rothwell or Tanaka were struck down or suspended. We are more than 10 weeks on from those dark days and the Anglo-Japanese pairing has been formidable. While his replacements have flourished, Ampadu has been using untold powers of recovery to bring himself back into the squad at least a month ahead of schedule. A late December training return might have been expected ahead of some tentative January action, but the skipper already has two substitute appearances. The great dilemma this miraculous development creates is getting them all on the field in their best positions at the same time. Ampadu, as captain, will start ahead of anyone in this squad when he is sharp enough. Farke has anointed the number four his most important player and that kind of comment is not made lightly by the German. So, unless Joe Rodon or Pascal Struijk vacate a defensive berth, Ampadu will be starting in midfield, though Farke does not have to rush this comeback. When push comes to shove, one of Rothwell or Tanaka seems destined to move out of the way. The latter has arguably been better over the long term, but the former’s recent displays have been hard to ignor
LEEDS UNITED DANIEL FARKE ETHAN AMPADU AO TANAKA JOE ROTHWELL CHAMPIONSHIP
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