Perhaps Shinji Kagawa, Manchester United’s latest recruit, hinted at his future stardom by playing for Barcelona at 12 - FC Miyagi Barcelona in Sendai, Japan, that is. This Kobe-born player had turned heads at that early age and, eventually signed professional forms with Cerezo Osaka before finishing high school.
It was clear in that first season in J2 that this teenager was destined to be a star. Veterans of the team gushed praise, television stations clamoured to get him on their shows and fans wearing Kagawa on their backs soon outnumbered others, by far.
He became a lynchpin of a young Cerezo side in J-League 2 and, while they narrowly missed out on promotion for three year in a row, he helped them to make it back into the top flight in 2010. During that period Kagawa had come close to a goal every other game over more than 100 games, including 27 in 44 games in that promotion season.
When Hiroaki Morishima, the long-serving Cerezo Osaka and Japan player, retired, Kagawa was given his coveted No 8 shirt – a huge honour for the player, and a bold statement from the club on the faith that they had in this youngster. Even now, after two successful campaigns far away in Germany, you can still see countless Kagawa No 8 shirts on the terraces at a Cerezo game, such is the adulation for their hero.
J-League 1 defences soon found out how good he was when he notched seven goals in 11 games before Germany called. Borussia Dortmund took advantage of the situation in Japan where player agents are strong and clubs’ inexperience allows contracts to favour their clients. Dortmund thus took advantage of a cheap release clause in Kagawa’s contract and paid about £350,000
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In most countries such actions would call for criticism by fans over betrayal and selling-out, but after Kagawa announced he was leaving Cerezo, attendances in Osaka rose as fans clamoured to see their hero one more time. In his final game in the J-League, which I attended, the crowd was well in excess of the average as Kagawa took a lap of honour around the field after the match, collecting countless presents, letters, bunches of flowers. Even the away fans, despite seeing their team lose to a winning goal from Kagawa, gave him a standing ovation and chanted his name.
While Kagawa has been racking up the goals and the medals in Germany, he has not been neglecting fans in his homeland and recently became the youngest player to score ten goals for his country. All this in less than 30 games and from midfield.
United will be gaining a player who is as comfortable out wide on either side of an attacking midfield as he is in the hole behind the forwards. He can create space and goalscoring chances with devastating vision and inch-perfect passes, while possessing a turn of pace that can give him the openings that bring goals. I’ve been watching since this kid first strode out in a Cerezo shirt! He’ll do the red of Manchester United proud.
Alan Gibson is based in Kobe, Japan and is the editor of JSoccer Magazine. For more information go to jsoccer.com