Just in case you guys missed it Uchida to Schalke is official http://www.so-net.ne.jp/antlers/news/detail/20100613_15_2722.html http://www.schalke04.com/news/single-view/artikel/japan-star-atsuto-uchida-makes-schalke-switch.html
My wife told me she read somewhere of an interest for Honda by Inter, but it MUST be BS. They have already 40 top-players or so, plus Benitez hasn't developed one single youngster in Liverpool. If Italy, Honda should begin from a mid-rank club where he has chance to play regularly. I still hope he goes to England or Germany. I really don't want to have to watch Serie A, like three years of Catania were not enough torture...
Soma is testing at Sturm Graz ( ) and Arsenal Kiev, Krylia Sovetov, Lille and Valenciennes are interested in Matsui
Mizuno is has transfered out of Celtic (about bloody time). He'll be back in the J.League with Kashiwa. http://www.sanspo.com/soccer/news/100619/sca1006191111001-n1.htm After three seasons with Celtic, he has 12 match appearences (including cup games) and one goal to show for. Though it was an unsuccessful stint, I commend Mizuno for sticking it out as long as he did. In comparison, some other Japanese players wimp out after half a season *cough*Okubo*cough*
Drawing the attention with some excellent prestations in Portugal and signing in German .2 league. I'm gonna stop following Taka on Twitter.
I expect Euro-offers for Nagatomo and Tulio, even if perhaps not from top-leagues. Nakazawa and Endo are too old, and all the other top-players are already in Europe. Will Liverpool offer the bench to Okada?
I condemn him for ever going at all. Every day he stayed merely compounded his error. Way to throw away three years of your life in a soccer backwater, you moron. It's too much to hope that young Japanese players would finally get the message that much-hyped "Europe" is a dead end.
Pretty sure Nagatomo has an offer from Bologna, or at least they're the frontrunners for his signature. Tulio still has the drive in him for one more world cup I think so yeah europe for him.....then Yoshida steps up to the NT and we'll have our very first all-europe based backline
Rumours here in Belgium are that Kawashima is going to sign for newly promoted Belgian side SK Lierse. Can anyone in Japan confirm this?
No offense taken, it's not my team But I don't think it would be that bad to start in a smaller league in Europe, gives him more time to adapt to European football. I don't know how Kawashima is doing in Japan, but in the WC he looked very insecure on high balls. Twice against Cameroon, again today when he torpedoed Tulio while he was nowhere near the ball...
The swedish commentator kept saying AC Roma is really interested Nagatomo. Very nice if it's true. I'm sure every japanese player has woken some kind of interest within the European clubs but who is most likely to go?? This is who I hope will go and take the chance. Kawashima Nagatomo Abe Tulio Okazaki Those who are good enough but probably will not go Nakazawa, good enough for the big leagues but I think he is to old for the teams to take a chance. I think he has 2-3 great years still in him. Komano, poor guy :/ But a great player. Okubo , I don't hink he will go another time.
You can always pick players that failed. I want them to go and I think a player like Nagatomo would like to go.
Arsenal made an offer for Morimoto http://southafrica2010.yahoo.co.jp/news/ndetail/20100630-00000028-spn-socc
Why not? Playing in another league could help them fine-tune their abilities and adapt to different styles (e.g. different paces and physicalities). That gives them more depth and better prepared for playing for the national team, particularly against non-Asian opponents. Also, if no player left Japan, how would Japan get more exposure for the talent they can produce outside of a few international games (which to many coaches/scouts won't mean much)? And what would be the point of this thread?
More exposure to what? I don't give a crap what Europeans or Americans (in the larger sense) or Asians think about Japanese soccer. It doesn't require their validation. Other than Japan's national and club teams actually beating them in international competition, which is the only objective (corruption aside) measure. Tracking the dismal legacy of Troussier's implanted Eurofetish.
your xenophobic posts are scary. the j-league was a fetishization of european leagues in its inception.
I think having a steady stream of quality players trying their luck in Europe is key to the continued development of both JLeague and the NT. Honda and Hasebe wouldn't be the players they are today without it. Naka wouldn't have excelled either -- he would've stayed a puny midfielder like Kengo. I don't think Okazaki can make the jump. In fact, I'd prefer strikers to light up JLeague for a few years before going over and even then they'd have to pick a side carefully. European clubs go through strikers like they're sweatshop workers.