October 28th, 2018 – it’s a good day in Niigata. The hosts are guesting Machida Zelvia in a dead-rubber game, but some positives are finally showing up. In their first season back to J2 after a long stint in the top-flight, Albirex Niigata have finally turned things around. Yes, they’re still 15th on the table, but they’re on a roll, having recorded a streak of eight positive results, including five wins in a row between September and October.
We’re far away from the side who will conquer promotion back to J1 four years later; so much that no one from the current players is actually there. But Matchday 39 confirms the trend – it’s an easy 2-0 home win against Zelvia, with two goals coming from the same player. He wears the no. 16 and he’s a rookie, although he featured in a few matches the year before; he didn’t play in J1, but he made some appearances in the Emperor’s Cup and in the J.League Cup.
For the no. 16 this is special, because he’s actually from the region – born in the Nishi Ward of Niigata, grew up through the youth ranks of Albirex. Arata Watanabe is touching the sky with a finger: he can hope now that he’ll be the saviour of his own team, becoming stronger and bringing back the team where it belongs. Unfortunately, history will say otherwise – Watanabe will leave Niigata to never come back.
And he didn’t repeat those heights… until this year. Yeah, because if there’s a story underlining the miracle that Mito HollyHock are pulling through – by topping the table and having a real shot at promotion –, it’s Watanabe’s. Seven years later, the striker finally repeated that double-digits of goals-season he firstly experienced in Niigata. What’s important is what happened in these seven years leading us to this.
Missed Prophet
Watanabe began his career with Ryutsu Keizai University, whose football club was also able to squeeze in a presence in the Emperor’s Cup, going until the second round. After those years, Watanabe hoped to join Albirex Niigata , since he openly admitted he’s been cheering the team since he was a child. And it indeed happened in 2017 – first as a special designated player, then fully as a pro.
The first year of Albirex back into J2 was traumatic – they had to change manager mid-season, with two not-so-flashy names, Masakazu Suzuki and Koichiro Katafuchi. Despite that, Watanabe played 40 matches in all competitions, scoring 10 goals in J2, and his importance never decreased – even when Albirex decided to change coach again (which will happen mid-2019 and before the beginning of the 2020 season).
With both Kazuaki Yoshinaga and Albert Puig, Watanabe stayed an important part of the team. But there were two problems: a) he never reached again the scores of 2018, scoring five goals in 2019 and seven in 2020; b) Watanabe featured in just 20 matches in 2020, because of a serious injury who stopped him mid-season. Meanwhile, players like Motohiko Nakajima, Shion Homma and Yoshiaki Takagi were shining.
That’s probably why in the end, Albirex didn’t stand in the way of the striker when Oita Trinita knocked at their door. After three years as a pro, Watanabe felt as well it was time to change and try to test himself at the highest level – especially with all the players that Albirex were going to nurture and develop in the successive years.
Purgat-oita-tory
Unfortunately, Oita Trinita were on the brink of going down again. Yes, they reached the final of the 2021 Emperor’s Cup and lost it just because of a goal in injury time. But the club was clearly stepping down from the majestic growth that brought them from the relegation to J3 in 2014 to reaching eighth in J1 five years later. And Tomohiro Katanosaka as well was ready to leave – as he confirmed at the end of 2021.
Being a J2 figure in a team with no clear direction didn’t help Watanabe. He scored four goals in J1, the same the year after and just two in 2023. Paradoxically, his last season in 2024 was the best one at the Oita Dome: 27 games and five goals in J2. In the meantime, Oita did very well in 2022 – reaching the play-off via a fifth place-finish –, but struggled the two successive seasons. So much that Takahiro Shimotaira left and Katanosaka came back in 2024, but no miracles are happening.
Last but not least, the only two players from that success era are Kohei Isa (33) and Naoki Nomura (34), while the new additions struggled to make a difference or stay. In all of this, Watanabe lost also a bit of tactical purpose, since he played almost in every position possible from midfield onwards. When injuries piled up on his already fragile form, it was time to leave, despite Watanabe was made captain for the 2024 season.
Watanabe never hid the incomplete mission at Oita, with a bittersweet end to it: “I came here with a strong determination, but things didn’t go the way I wanted.” Probably he saw Trinita as a step to the next point, and instead Watanabe landed down where he started before leaving Niigata. And when he signed for Mito HollyHock – a perennial J2 side in search of survival – it didn’t feel like a marquee signing. Right?
Captain Surprise
He was already the captain in Oita, so it didn’t feel surprising to see him picked up again for the task at Mito. HollyHock had already started a transformation under head coach Naoki Mori, who finished his playing career there and stayed in Ibaraki in different roles before taking over the head coach gig in April 2024 – a man with ambition, just like seen in his interview with Footballista, where he declared that direct promotion is in the realm of possibilities.
And that’s because Watanabe clearly left his mark in this season. He didn’t expect the season to go this way, as he confirmed to Footballista: “When we were in pre-season, we thought we would have been in another situation.” He also talked how he had to reset after his expiring contract with Oita: “I didn’t think we were going there, but I took as a good opportunity to improve myself. Why Mito? They’re a smaller club compared to Albirex and Oita, but they wanted to reach J1”.
Watanabe was elected the KONAMI Monthly MVP twice – both in April and May. It was the first time that ever happened to a Mito HollyHock player: “I was chosen for my goals and the victories we had, but I made it because of the support from the coach, my teammates, and the supporters”. He featured in all the matches (all but the opener as a captain), plus scored 11 goals in 25 games – his best season ever.
Maturity has maybe played a part in this scenario – Watanabe turned 30 just a few days ago: “They call me a veteran because of my age, but I feel I’m in the best shape right now – I still have the approach and the hunger of a rookie who just graduated from university”. No injuries, plenty of experience and a mind free of worries. Usually, that’s a good cocktail to create an improbable, but reliable leader.
