2012/14 Shinji Kagawa @ Manchester United (ENG/CL) Thread [R]

looks like Lewandowski to MU is the real deal after all.

 

I somewhat really doubt it Saku.

Borussia has sold Kagawa and Barrios already they wont sell Lewandowski

 

It'd be nice for them to be reunited, you never know if Lewadowski bangs in a few goals in the coming weeks...

 

Dortmund does have a young American striker in Boyd who could step in for Lewa is he does indeed leave. If Dortmund are to sell Lewa now is the time, his stock is sky high after his season with Dortmund and his good performance with Poland. But Man Utd. is so stacked with strikers it might not be in his best interest. Would be great for Kagawa as they have good chemistry and familiarity. But trying to compete with Rooney and Chicharito and Welbeck..may wanna think twice.

 

Nobody knows probably who was behind him and Barrios in Klopp's pecking order as both of them were in the squad for probably all of the BVB games last season.

 

While I don't doubt ManU is interested in Lewa, so would many clubs, but the fact is ManU won't be needing his services anytime soon. Also Dortmund would be stupid to let Lewa leave after letting Kagawa leave. While they replace Kagawa with Reus and Goetze, along with many talented midfielders, Dortmund almost have no back-up for the striker role since Barrios will leave. Lewa's backup, they haven't been probably tested in BuLi.1 to be considered.

 

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp_iphone.cgi?y=2012&d=0610&f=national_0610_021.shtml

Hehe, Chinese fans are discussing who's better: Shinji or Keisuke Shinji was leading in the poll with almost 70% of votes as the article was written.

 

http://www.narinari.com/Nd/20120417815.html

Chinese Milan fans' reaction was not as friendly (at the time Milan was rumored being interested in Kagawa).

 

http://www.sanspo.com/soccer/news/20120611/jap12061105170000-n2.html

Could be nominated for the Ballon d'Or's best 11.

 

Well, some were against that and some fans appreciated Shinji. Have you read about their reactions after Jordans were demolished few days ago? I think that many of them knows the difference and are even able write good things about Japanese players (just like about AV stars ). I'm not saying buying shirts and walking around in those for league games.

 

Internet ≠ global opinion unfortunately.

 

Yeah.
What I mean is that some Chinese and Koreans will stay ManUtd fans, a lot won't. It's easy to see that the club will likely have a more difficult time selling merchandise to those countries. IMO, as stated before, I am sure that what Kagawa makes on shirt sales in Japan is not more than what he will make the club lose in those other countries.
It's one thing to write or read and agree that Japan had a good game against Jordan (or provides good wanking material ) , the situation is somewhat different if 'your' club signs somebody from the country you regard as a bitter footballing rival, and in some cases just hate to the extent you want to burn their flags

 

Exactly One comment was something like 'so they'll sell more original shirts in Japan alone than in the whole China'. Also one more thing to notice is that the only country in the whole Asia I think that when a person who watches football regulary (J League namely) will think twice if he wants to buy his home club shirt or some other foreign country club's one is Japan. I don't know the exact numbers but I think that's a fair share of the market which would spend their money on shirts. That's also one of the Asian countries where EPL isn't as much followed as Liga or Serie A. Also Shinji topped the number of shirts sells for Borussia far above Hummels and Goetze in the last season if I remember that well.

 

They will not risk their attack on some young striker who has yet to make a stamp in Bundesliga

 

You mean in the same way they wouldn't of risked their attack on some unknown striker who's yet to make his mark on the Mexican Primera Division? Or was it the season after that complete flop from Mexico arrived, where the other potential risk was chosen to lead the line, as SAF opted for a regularly loaned out youth product to start most of the time .

Even though I think talk of Lewandowski to Man U is bogus, he isn't exactly going to come from a potentially lesser position than the forwards they already have as 1st, & 2nd choice, right now . I mean Bundesliga is a quality football league, that simply lacks any serious hype away from a always globally recognised club like Bayern Munich.

A strong Euro's, and maybe Lewandowski finally gets what he want's, which is the kind of hype that brings him to the attention of a Chelsea, Man City, PSG, or some other rich commodities driven club, but if he was going to link up with Kagawa again via a move to Man U though, I would have thought the clubs would have completed both deals all at once.

 

1. Says who?
2. Even if the popularity of ManUtd would rise in Japan, the market is still very diversified. Kagawa is popular but he is not the most popular in the NT as latest polls have shown.
3. No. His shirt sales were narrowly above Goetze and Hummels.

 

I was talking about the new guy at Borussia Dortmund not Lewandowski aat MU. So was talking about BD. They wont sell Lewandowski

 

Yeah I know PJ like jerseys

 

It was just announced that Boyd leaves for Rapid Vienna on a permanent deal.

 

Sorry, should have guessed you didn't mean Man U, when you never used the clubs name

 

Lewandowski had one of those career seasons. I'm curious to see if he can replicate this next year. His form is showing in If marco Reus turns out to be a success maybe Lewandowski will move next summer. I think Dortmund has a very strong team. They lack european experience but i feel like they could easily beat every club in the world comfortably minus Barcelona (thats if they had kagawa...). Considering the clubs revenue its truly amazing what they've accomplished. Beating Bayern Munich is no joke. I think they are like the 2nd best team in the world atm.

 

well we saw how it went for them in the champions league they will need to prove themselves on that stage next year. Also dont count on Reus replacing Lewandowski he is more of a AMR second striker than a real complete forward

 

Hey guy, here an interesting article on Kagawa from the man untied site. It's a interview with Raphael Honigstein , one of the most respected journalist on German football.

As United supporters around the world await the completion of Shinji Kagawa’s transfer to Old Trafford, we catch up with Bundesliga expert Raphael Honigstein to shed light on the player set to become the Reds’ first Japanese signing…

How good a signing have United made?
It’s a brilliant signing. A lot of clubs would have liked to make the move, but United benefited from one of the rare instances where a player had really made up his mind that he wanted to play for a specific club. Of course money is important, but for him it was almost more of a romantic notion of joining United, and the others had no chance. They tried to get very near United’s offer, but Kagawa had made up his mind that this was his dream and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. All sorts of clubs were trying to sign him and I think it’s a real coup for United to get him.

Which other clubs were interested in him?
Well, you never quite know just how far they got because the indications from the player and his agent were always very clear - that he was only going to move to United - so they didn’t get very far. I think Arsenal and Chelsea certainly looked at him, Real Madrid very late on in the game became aware of his potential, but United stole a march on everyone because the player wanted to go there. It’s easy to be cynical and sometimes players just sign for whoever offers the most money, but it’s fair to say this instance was different. He really wanted to go to United and wouldn’t listen to any other offers, as far as I’m aware.

What are his key attributes?
Kagawa isn't an Arjen Robben or a Franck Ribery type who picks up the ball and everyone starts shaking with fear; the guy almost works in a stealthier way. He finds space and he touches it when it’s already too late.


He’ll find space behind a full-back or he’ll play someone in with a first touch pass and you maybe don’t have time to worry about him because he’s already outsmarted you. That’s the kind of stuff he does. He doesn’t run at people. He’s not a real winger. For Japan he plays out wide, but always with a constant view to cut in, and for Dortmund his best role was as a fairly free second striker in a more forward attacking role. He found space a lot of times on the left, would pop up on the right and he’s really good at what he does.

Are there any areas of his game he particularly needs to work on?
Not really. I don’t think the Premier League is necessarily more physical than the Bundesliga. There might be more running, but it’s hard to top what Dortmund have done in terms of sheer ground they cover. If there’s any player who will find the tempo easy to adapt to, it’s him. He’s never going to be a big threat in terms of heading ability, but that’s not going to change and you don’t need him to. That’s really it. He just needs to keep growing as a player and become even more consistent. The team he’s played in was near-perfect and he really found the perfect position for himself so it’s hard, on the back of that, to think of too many faults. You could say maybe he needs to bulk up ever so slightly if he’s going to be played consistently out wide, where he’s going to have to hold off full-backs.

How important was he in Dortmund’s recent successes?
He was certainly very good in the first season, but then he got injured in January 2011 and he missed the great run they had towards the end of 2010/11 when they really pulled away. The real strong stuff came when he was injured, but he was still an integral part of winning the Bundesliga title. In 2011/12 though, he really was arguably their most influential performer after Robert Lewandowski.

Mario Götze missed four months of the season and people hardly noticed because Kagawa was so good. He also made Lewandowski look really good because the understanding between the two is just phenomenal. Everybody should watch the second goal that they scored against Bayern in the cup final last month. It’s all one-touch and you could see they instinctively knew where each other was.

How impressive was his adaptation to life in Germany, on and off the field?
Dortmund isn’t one of the more multicultural cities in Germany - I think there was one sushi restaurant which he went to - but that just shows how adaptable he is because it was still easy it was for him to settle on and off the pitch. I think it’ll be much easier for him in Manchester after two years in Dortmund, and that’s another reason why United were keen on him; there’s no question mark over him which you might get when buying a player straight from Asia. It was the same with Ji-sung Park; after playing in Holland he found it easy to make the move to England.

Which parts of his game suggest he can adapt to the Premier League?
All parts. His attitude is just phenomenal on and off the pitch. He’s a guy everyone loves; nobody has a bad thing to say about him. He’s a little bit shy but a tremendous professional and a great team-mate. His attitude is top class. That, on top of his unique skills set, is tailor-made for the Premier League. His attributes are pace, directness, one-touch play, and it all lends itself to playing at the highest level. Plus he can only improve because he’s still very young and if you think where he’s come from in a very short space of time – the Japanese second division, to winning the Bundesliga back-to-back and now going to United - I think we’ve only seen a glimpse of what he can do. If he can continue on that career path then the guy will be one of the greats.

Where do you see him fitting in at United?
He definitely gives you an option to play 4-2-3-1, the way that United played in 2007/08, which is arguably the best football they’ve played in recent years. He gives you that ability not just from his intelligence, but from his workrate because you know you can play him out wide and if need be, he can go 4-5-1 with the wide players coming back and he will do that no problem because he’s got such an amazing work ethic and his legs are brilliant. He gives you so many options and I’m sure he’s also a good impact player if you wanted to start him on the bench. He’ll definitely improve the team and the squad straight away. I think he’ll force his way in and Ferguson will find a way to accommodate him because he’s too good to be left out.

"I think we’ve only seen a glimpse of what he can do. If he can continue on that career path then the guy will be one of the greats."

- Raphael Honigstein

 

Wonder if SAF will also try to get Honda, he and Kagawa been amazing for Japan.
but it'll be weird. Kagawa is the AMF, Central playmaker, at least that is the position many believe he'll play for ManU. Honda can play in Central Midfielder, the deep-lying playmaker for ManU, replace Scholes.
but for the JNT, Honda plays Kagawa position, while he plays to the left. it's confusing...
just a thought.