Seeing Son Heung-min's height now is not only reminiscent of a Japanese player who was hailed as "Asia's first man" after Park Ji-sung. But if you look up his recent situation and can't find any of his recent appearances, you'll find out that he's been a "free agent" for months. The Japanese player who was once the "first man in Asia" and is still "displaced" and has no ball to play is Shinji Kagawa.
After leaving bumblebee
After leaving Borussia Dortmund in the winter of 2018/2019, Kagawa joined Besiktas in the Turkish Super League, and after half a season, he went to Real Zaragoza in La Liga.
Real Zaragoza qualified for La Liga promotion in the final stages, and after a two-round match, Real Zaragoza unexpectedly lost to Elche, who later managed to advance to the final place in La Liga 20/21. Because Shinji Kagawa's contract was accompanied by a clause that he would be able to automatically renew his contract if he advanced to La Liga in the second season, after the promotion failed, the contract began to feel that the team was dealing with Kagawa's contract matters.
After just over a month of off-season, it was first reported that Kagawa had received interest and inquiries from Middle Eastern teams, and Real Zaragoza was considering whether to let Kagawa go, because his annual salary of 450,000 euros did have a lot of burden on a Team in la Liga. Then the local media rumored that the team and Kagawa were discussing whether to take a pay cut, but Real Zaragoza decided to sign uruguayan players gabrielfernandez and Brazilian player Rai, two non-EU players, and the team was reluctant to sign any more non-EU players, which eventually caused Kagawa to lose his place in the new season. On 2 October 2020, The Royal Zaragoza announced that it had terminated Shinji Kagawa's contract by mutual consent and that he would become free.
Shinji Kagawa was released during the summer transfer period when there were still many players from the Middle East, North America and Europe who were interested in him and invited, but after the transfer window was closed, as a free agent, he could still join any team, but after many teams contacted him, discussed and discussed, etc., there was still no news that Kagawa joined any team. For example, the Bundesliga team Dusseldorf considered inviting Kagawa to join, but after internal discussion and evaluation, the management of Düsseldorf gave up the opportunity to invite Kagawa.
Shinji Kagawa is still in Spain to practice independently, and in the coming winter transfer window, Tokusatsu still has listed him as one of the watchful free agents in this transfer window.
Why no one asks
Mislinta, the recent head of sporting Stuttgart in the Bundesliga and former Chief Scout of Borussia Dortmund (2009-2017), was asked in an interview with the German media swr which one was the most satisfied player in his mind, and the "Eye of Diamonds" who had dug up Lewandowski, Aubameyang, Osman Dembele and Priscic did not say the names of the front thigh-level players, but the names of "Shinji Kagawa". Misrinta said that when he first came to report, he faced a challenge when he was a scout because he did not work as a scout, but when he visited Kagawa, he flew to Japan six times, edited more than 10 Kagawa personal analysis videos, and finally made "purchase suggestions" to the top management.
During the discussion of Kagawa's transfer within Dortmund, he was questioned by the then head coach Klopp, but fortunately Klopp and the management finally opened a door for Kagawa to join Dortmund at the age of 21 for a transfer fee of only 350,000 euros, and the next story is that Kagawa went to the peak of his life in the Hornets. The transfer also made Misrinta an important turning point in his scouting career. However, the Polish media "sport" wrote a special article in Kagawa, which mentioned the Polish football commentator Romain Berger in 2010. Kleton said that Kagawa's talent is really enviable, and he hopes that these talents can be distributed to Lewandowski. But ten years later, the 32-year-old Levan has become one of the best strikers in the world, and Shinji Kagawa, who is only 31 years old, has fallen into a situation where no one cares.
Compared to Kagawa's good friend, who joined Marseille in Ligue 1 directly after leaving Turkey during the summer transfer window, and 34-year-old Yuto Nagatomo, why did Kagawa have no team to sign with him after the termination of his contract with Real Zaragoza?
Injuries affect competitive status
The biggest problem affecting Kagawa is that his injury directly led to his current situation. Turning over his recent injury history, Kagawa, who could fly away before joining Manchester United, although he had suffered a fracture injury for three and a half months, his competitive form at that time still did not face too much challenge. But two months after he suffered a knee injury during his time at Manchester United, his body began to change.
After Shinji Kagawa left Manchester United and returned to Borussia Dortmund, his performances remained at a certain level at first, but it was during this time that he began to suffer from ankles and knees. In the four years since his return to Dortmund, Kagawa has missed a total of 237 days and played as many as 35 games due to injury. The most serious was an ankle injury twice a year, which left him recuperating for 86 days. It was also because of this "decisive" injury that Kagawa was completely left on the bench after returning to the first team. In February 2018, he faced an ankle injury that led to the season reimbursement, and later thought that he would still have a chance to play in the 2018/2019 season, but in October he injured his ankle again, and after recovering from the injury, playing in the German Cup on October 31 was his last appearance at Dortmund. It was not until January 31, 2019 that he was loaned out to the Turkish Super League.
Although Kagawa laid the trust of fans with two goals, he only started four of the games he played for Besiktas in the Turkish Super League, and did not play the whole game. In a European second-rate league, he can't start and play the whole game, which shows that Kagawa's competitive state can no longer allow him to participate in the game at will.
When playing for Real Zaragoza, Kagawa played as a starting front, but in the twenty-three games he started, he played only four of them, and in all the games, he was replaced by the manager in 60 to 70 minutes. In a total of 37 games for the team (a total of 1734 minutes), only 4 goals and 1 assist were scored, which is still not a satisfactory list for a top Japanese player who only works in the La Liga.
Today's tactics require good positions to face elimination
From the founding of the Premier League (1992) to the present, the previous early left and right midfield hanging tactics, to the rise of the forward and the position below the forward, and now to put the dominance back on the side, Kagawa's loss of power also has a great impact from tactical changes and requirements. Around 2010, the front waist position was once again valued and valued by the world, such as the soaring Sneijder who led Inter Milan to win the Treble and reach the final of the World Cup in South Africa. In addition, Ozil also made many great achievements in the Werder Bremen and Real Madrid systems. Even Messi, who played as a pseudo-striker at Barcelona, returned to the front when he represented Argentina.
When Shinji Kagawa joined Borussia Dortmund in that period, he had the qualities and talents needed for a first-class modern striker, but after two years, he really made the world amazing and became the flagpole of Asian football. However, in recent years, Tikitaka's passing tactics have been slowly abandoned by the mainstream world, replaced by "shelling tactics" like Liverpool. In this rapid offensive and defensive conversion speed, although Kagawa, who was originally a front waist, has excellent reaction and running position, but the physical strength and injury factors of the pulling legs, so that he does not have much advantage in the existing tactics. It's like Ozil and Wilshire, who are also in the front.
Having a brilliant performance is no longer enough to give the team weight and trust, only perseverance and running are real, at least for the talent needed in the football world now, like Alfonso Davis, who has just won the world's best eleven.
Afterword
Although Shinji Kagawa is deficient due to injury and competitive status, it cannot be denied that he has lost the opportunity to gain a foothold in Europe. It's just that time has passed, and I hope that Kagawa can seize the few opportunities to leave a successful figure for himself in the few remaining football careers, and I wish him to return to the stadium quickly to meet everyone.