Back in the spring of 2014, Japan’s newest “ace” Yoichiro Kakitani was blazing a trail through the J.League. Fresh off a breakout 2013 where he had scored 24 goals, the young, bleached blond forward with slick movement and a razor sharp eye for goal looked destined to be the next Japanese player to make a name for himself in Europe.
A move to Basel came to fruition in the summer of 2014, but not after the obligatory teary-eyed leaving ceremony after a J.League game against Kawasaki Frontale. His move to Basel was met with mixed reactions; some praised the move, saying that Basel could be a good platform for Kakitani to showcase his talents. Basel, after all, were/are perennial UEFA Champions League participants and are always strong domestically. Others were underwhelmed with the move, pointing out that while Kakitani had chosen the Swiss Super League, many other Japanese players had chosen to go straight to Germany’s Bundesliga, the path trodden by fellow Cerezo alumni Shinji Kagawa and Takashi Inui amongst others.
As it was, it was with hope that Japan sent off its newest golden boy to Europe in the hope/expectation that he could turn into the top class striker that the Japanese national side desperately needed. Unfortunately, for both Kakitani and the national team, things never really went to plan. In his time with the Swiss Super League club, he failed to hold down a regular starting place, and scored only a few goals, not really justifying the hype (although whether he deserved the hype itself is another question entirely! He wasn’t helped by the decision to make a TV show about him, and the swift selling of the rights to the Swiss league to Japanese cable giant Sky Perfect) and ultimately had to settle for a place on the bench most weeks.
Kakitani rarely looked happy during the first half of the 2015-16 Swiss season, and rumours soon started to circulate, both in Japan and in Europe, that Kakitani was looking to make the move back to more comfortable surroundings. In January of this year, it was formally announced that The player had agreed to move back to Cerezo Osaka on a permanent transfer. The financial details of the move aren’t readily available, but given that Kakitani was only 18 months into a four year contract at Basel, it is assumed that Cerezo paid a decent sum for him.
So, what can we, the public, expect from Kakitani in J2 this year? On his day (not that there have been many of those “days” recently) he combines very quick speed of thought with precise execution. He gets into positions that are very hard to defend against. In his stellar 2013, he benefited from having Hotaru Yamaguchi and the then emerging Takumi Minamino (who have both since moved on, to Hannover in Germany, and Red Bull Salzburg in Austria respectively) to provide assists and to help create space. When given time and space, an on-form Kakitani knows exactly what to do. Near post runs, far post headers, running at defenders from deeper lying positions – Kakitani has it all in his armoury. This year, his supporting cast won’t be as A-list as it was during his previous spell, but it won’t be bad by any stretch of the imagination. Mitsuru Maruoka, who has spent the last two years in Germany with Dortmund has returned, as has Kenyu Sugimoto. They’ll also be able to call upon the services of London 2012 Olympic midfielder Takahiro Ogihara and the recently signed Shohei Kiyohara, a lively attacker who enjoyed a superb campaign for Zweigen Kanazawa in 2015.
One wonders though, just what effect his time in Switzerland has had on his confidence. It is a road many aspiring bright young things have traveled down. Lauded and feted in their own country, only to find the going tough when they arrive on different shores. As a side note, this isn’t a solely Japanese problem – one only has to look at Ian Rush’s stint at Juventus, or Ukrainian forward Sergey Rebrov’s ill-fated time at Tottenham Hotspur, for example. For every Neymar that sets the footballing world alight, there are a dozen Denilsons that promise as much, but fall drastically short. However, if he was looking for a place where he could re-discover what made him Japan’s hottest property in the not too distant past, then the verdant surfaces and in-no-way-elite defences of J2 seem ideal.
Ultimately, Kakitani should shred J2 defences. His pace and sharpness is a combination that defenders in Japan’s second tier should find very difficult to cover. Cerezo are hoping he doesn’t have too many problems in the ego department – after all Kakitani has done the whole J2 thing before, spending some of his formative years on loan at a then very untrendy Tokushima Vortis in order to toughen him up, both physically and mentally. Cerezo will be hoping he can call on all his experience – both good and bad – to help lead the pink side of Osaka back to the promised land of J1.
