A Japanese reporter asked Favre at the pre-Atlético press conference how Kagawa was doing, and the answer was that he's doing better and has been training with the team.
Favre says that "we will see" if Kagawa returns for the cup match against Union after having been injured for a few weeks.
Kagawa has like 3 or 4 assists today....in a Regionalliga match between BVB II and Rot-Weiss Essen. ℹ️ Die Aufstellung unseres #BVBII gegen @rot_weiss_essen ist da! Anstoß ist um 19 Uhr! pic.twitter.com/cWADGuUakg— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) November 6, 2018
FWIW, Kagawa is behind Reus and Götze in the pecking order but his situation is also about lacking match practice. I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason to leave him out of the Atletico trip was to give him 90 minutes rather than sit in the stands at the Metropolitano. He teed up Isak for 2 (maybe 3) assists. https://www.transfermarkt.de/spielbericht/index/spielbericht/3065957 https://www.bvb.de/News/Uebersicht/U23-5-0-gegen-Essen-Kagawa-lenkt-und-Isak-trifft
https://www.sport.de/news/ne3421583/kagawa-bei-auftritt-in-der-u23-des-bvb-ausgepfiffen/ Kagawa was whistled at by RW Essen fans who were understandably pissed that BVB II fielded 3 of their senior players. He assisted on 4 of the 5 goals. The coach Jan Siewert explained that "these are mostly players who haven't played in a long time or are returning from injury...it was a clear decision by Favre [to play Rode and Kagawa]."
I think he has to leave. BVB has changed several managers. I know he loves Dortmund, but there's no chance things are going to change in a brief time, since Favre is doing really well and Shinji doesn't have the star class-view of a few years ago.
In an interesting twist Kagawa has proclaimed his intent to move to Spain in the near future in a multi-part interview with the Nikkan Sports tabloid. He was also apparently absent from the last day of training at home before the Club Brugge CL match, as well as the annual BVB shareholders' meeting which all other senior team members attended. When queried by German reporters about Kagawa's situation, BVB sporting director Zorc expressed sympathy for the "deserving player" and indicated that the club would be open to discussing a potential transfer over the winter break.
I just hope he chooses a good environment. No Valencia, no big clubs. A club like Villarreal could be a decent choice.
Celtic? Ala Shunsuke? Just kidding! Its a shame after a good world cup hes pretty much frozen out, will he even get in the side for the asian cup now? Hmm. Id like to see him back in England but Im not sure if thats a good option
He was linked to Everton and West Ham last month, but not sure if either of those clubs are right for him. West Ham is a disaster of a club, always some mess going on and Everton are quite strong in the offensive midfielder positions already. It's a shame he's out in the cold, especially after what was a good World Cup. But I dont want to see him play for a mid-table club. Europa League contender should be a bare minimum.
For what I know, both teams play "british football" aka hit as hard as you can and something will happen, not exactly Shinji's style.
😢 @S_Kagawa0317-s Zeit beim #BVB läuft ab. Auch die Dienstreise nach #Monaco findet ohne den Japaner statt. Obwohl ein halbes Dutzend Spieler ausfällt, ist für ihn kein Platz: https://t.co/q4Pn4bDRIo #ASMBVB (Foto: @FotoKirchner) pic.twitter.com/iv04Lghmpm— Ruhr Nachrichten BVB (@RNBVB) December 10, 2018 Looks like Shinji may have played his last game for Dortmund. With a number of players missing from the squad traveling away to Monaco, Kagawa was excluded from the trip for no apparent reason other than to circumvent any risk of injury ahead of a winter move.
I strongly second that feeling. In terms of Japanese players that are too talented to be not playing, he's the top of the pile ahead of others, including Gaku and Morioka.
I was in one way hoping he would stay and fight his way back into the team, as he's done before. But seems Favre doesn't rate him at all, and the way Dortmund are playing this year it's hard to critiscise him I guess. With that being said, I still think Kagawa have the qualities that could make him a starter again in this team. Instead of mid-table dwellers like Everton and West Ham I rather see him play at a club like Ajax or Porto, who plays regularly in CL. He should avoid Spain at all cost imho.