Tipping Point

To recap: Sota Kawasaki to Mainz 05, Taishi Brandon Nozawa to Royal Antwerp, Sho Fukuda to Brondby, Junnosuke Suzuki to FC Copenhagen, Taiga Hata to Sint-Truinden, Sota Kitano to Red Bull Salzburg, Hayato Inamura to Celtic FC. And these are just the initiated transfers, without counting the ones which actually became effective with a full permanent option (e.g. Yu Hirakawa to Bristol City, Isa Sakamoto to KWC Westerlo, Takumi Ominami to OH Leuven).

It’s only mid-July and the market for Japanese players from the J.League has become immense. And this is a trend going only upwards, since the costs of these operations are pretty affordable and Japanese players proved to be worthy of attention for European clubs (especially the ones which feature in a third-tier championship – e.g. Scotland, Poland, Denmark, etc.). But there’s one move that overshadows the other ones.

After becoming a gem for Kawasaki Frontale and starting a few matches with the Japanese national team, Kota Takai has been sold to Tottenham Hotspur. The centre-back will play UEFA Champions League next season, and he’s been sold for a relevant sum (almost €6M). It’s the most lucrative transfer for a Japanese club regarding a Japanese player – even more if you think that Takai came out of the youth ranks of Frontale.

But is this transfer defining? It might be, because Japanese football had a few of those in the last 30 years. We tried to select the ones which changed the paradigm for Japanese clubs and to explain why Kota Takai’s move to London might be in that dynasty.

Tokyo-Genua

It seems now obvious to say, but Kazuyoshi Miura has been the engine behind most revolutions within Japanese football, especially when it comes down to start something. In the 90s, after a period spent in Brazil, the young striker went back to Japan and impressed with Verdy Kawasaki (formerly Yomiuri SC), winning back-to-back J1 League titles in ’93 and ’94, being also the MVP in the opening season.

And that’s when a European opportunity came knocking at his door. Serie A wanted to take a leap of faith and the sponsorship of Kenwood helped Genoa CFC assuring a lucrative deal to bring Miura on loan to Italy for one year. There’s a lot of curiosity around him, especially when Salvatore Schillaci made the reverse trip, leaving Inter Milan to join Júbilo Iwata in the same Summer. Unfortunately, Miura’s experience in Italy will prove to be a case of “too soon, too far”.

In his first game against AC Milan, he was knocked out by captain Franco Baresi. For a long time, he played, but without leaving a major sign – until the Genua Derby against UC Sampdoria in December 1994. He scored his first (and only) goal in Serie A, bringing Genoa momentarily ahead in the score. After playing the 1995 Kirin Cup with Japan, head coach Franco Scoglio left him out of the starting eleven.

Motivating his choice, Scoglio said: “He’s just a good kid”, underlining that Miura wasn’t in the right place. In the end, Scoglio was sacked and Genoa got relegated to Serie B. But that experience was a key-one – it wasn’t the first time a Japanese player made it to the big stage of European football (Yasuhito Okudera won a Bundesliga and a DFB-Pokal in his decade in Germany), but it was the first time a Japanese transfer caught the eye of Europe. And it wasn’t going to be the last one.

A Magician on the “Stretto”

Speaking of people who didn’t play the FIFA World Cup when they moved to Italy, here’s another name. We could have picked another milestone in terms of Japanese players moving to Europe – like Hidetoshi Nakata signing for Perugia in 1998 or Shinji Ono moving to Rotterdam to play with Feyenoord in 2001. But we picked Shunsuke Nakamura because his case was particular, since he didn’t feature in World Cup (yet).

Nakamura had been a star since he was 20 years old, when he was making waves with Yokohama F. Marinos despite his young age. He was awarded the MVP trophy in 2000, and many were expecting him to be part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad, co-hosted by Japan. Despite winning the 2000 AFC Asian Cup as a main protagonist, Japan’s head coach Philippe Troussier left him out because his rigid system couldn’t be the right fit for a creative player like Nakamura.

Instead of being disappointed, Nakamura planned his next move – leaving for Europe. Real Madrid and some Serie A clubs were already interested, but Reggina made the leap to have him. Reggina were just promoted back to Serie A, where they played two seasons between 1999 and 2001. They needed some fantasy upfront – and Nakamura was the perfect fit, free of being himself on the pitch.

The incredible part was that Nakamura stayed three seasons at Reggina, avoiding relegation for the team, but he was shining with Japan (doing well in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup and winning another AFC Asian Cup in 2004). Walter Mazzarri, his last coach at Reggina, famously said: “Nakamura is like Roberto Baggio – a player with talent, who can play both as a midfielder and a forward”.

The Bargain and the Ruhr

Many Japanese players signed for European teams after that 2002 FIFA World Cup, but very few managed to impress. It seems that progress stopped momentarily for Japanese football – as confirmed by a terrible 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. The Japanese movement needed new heroes and they were coming for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but the one we’re about to mention… wasn’t there.

Just like Nakamura – despite impressing with Cerezo Osaka – Shinji Kagawa wasn’t included in the trip for South Africa. He was already 21 and with 3.5 seasons under his belt when the World Cup came around, but that experience wasn’t enough for head coach Takashi Okada (although Kagawa actually accompanied the team as a non-member to live the experience). Luckily for Kagawa, there was one man working on a potential European deal.

That man was Thomas Kroth, who got Kagawa closer to Borussia Dortmund (the Japanese player even visited Dortmund back in December ’09). In Summer 2010, BVB got Kagawa for just €350k – an incredible bargain, seeing how things have gone after that move. It was also a matter of luck, since head coach Jürgen Klopp really liked the creativity from the Japanese kid. Kagawa didn’t lose any time in presenting himself.

He started scoring goals in the UEFA Europa League play-offs, and then notched a homerun with the fans before the Ruhr Derby against Schalke 04: “I’m gonna score a brace and we’ll win 2-0”. Wrong score, but right prediction – Kagawa scored a brace and BVB won 3-1 at Gelsenkirchen, beginning a run that brought to back-to-back Bundesliga titles and a memorable career – plus a notable financial gain for BVB’s books.

The New Kid on the Block

You might wonder why – with all the Japanese players who have moved from 2010 until now to Europe – Kota Takai is the next step of this evolution. The main reasons are two. The first (and main) one is economical – Tottenham Hotspur spent €5.8 millions to have him from Kawasaki Frontale, and that’s kind of a record for a transfer from J.League (the previous best was Kyogo Furuhashi’s move from Vissel Kobe to Celtic in 2021).

This marks a new beginning, a new era: finally J.League clubs are getting paid for forming future and solid assets (there will be time to understand if Takai will become an actual star). This era is finally shaping up and that will inevitably help the J.League as well, with money either being invested in structures (e.g. Frontale will have a new stadium in 2030), or going down the ladder to promote other talents.

The second is because this move puts even more Kawasaki Frontale on the map. After dominating J1 League and having provided many good players, they’re continuing in that direction. After the 2000s Kashima Antlers, they’re a real dynasty – and who knows if others will make the leap (e.g. Kento Tachibanada passed on his opportunity to move to Europe, Shin Yamada is rumoured to be scouted by Celtic, Sota Miura and Asahi Sasaki could be other rumoured names).

Takai could be the “patient zero” of a long list of good deals for the J.League – which saw a lot of players leaving this Summer. It’s tough to say if Takai will be an outlier or the new tendency, but given how the Japanese championship and clubs are starting to change themselves (e.g. the shift of the calendar from a February-December to an August-May calendar), there might be the chance Takai’s transfer to Spurs represents the latter.