TOKYO: A record number of Japanese players are in the Premier League this season, with clubs attracted by their proven quality, value for money and the “very little risk” involved in signing them.
Ten players from Japan were registered with top-tier English teams when the campaign kicked off last weekend, and more are potentially on the way before the transfer window closes.
Zion Suzuki was the highest-profile arrival with his switch to Aston Villa, with former Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu returning to London with Crystal Palace, midfielder Hidemasa Morita joining Hull City and Daizen Maeda swapping Celtic for Ipswich Town.
They join an established group of Japanese players already in the Premier League, including Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma, Liverpool’s Wataru Endo and Palace’s Daichi Kamada.
FIFA-registered agent Joel Pannick of CAA Base told AFP that English clubs have “increased confidence that signing a Japanese player is a good move to make”.
“There aren’t many examples of clubs signing Japanese players and having issues with their adaptation, with their personality, with their integration into the squad, with discipline,” said Pannick, who has about 60 Japanese players on his books.
“The risk element that teams previously feared, this fear of the unknown, has gone because with each example of a successful Japanese player it gives more confidence,” he added.
Also in the Premier League are Ao Tanaka (Leeds), Kota Takai (Spurs) and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto (Coventry).
Midfielder Tanaka, who has played 41 times for Japan, joined from German side Fortuna Dusseldorf for just 3.3 million pounds (now US$4.5 million) two years ago.
Japanese players in England have come a long way since Junichi Inamoto signed for Arsenal in 2001 and left for Fulham a year later without making a league appearance.
There have been successes along the way, with Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Okazaki, Takumi Minamino and Endo all picking up league winners’ medals.
“WORLDLY MENTALITY”
Suzuki, 24, will become the first Japanese goalkeeper to play in the Premier League if he makes his debut after joining Villa from Italian side Parma last week.
Veteran Japanese football journalist Yoshiyuki Osumi says he is “10 or 20 years ahead of his time for a Japanese goalkeeper”.
“If he can play in the Premier League as a goalkeeper, I think that would have a big impact on Japanese football,” said Osumi.
Suzuki’s transition to the Premier League will be helped by the fact that he can already communicate in English.
Not all of his compatriots have had that ability in the past, but more are realising that being able to speak the language is crucial to succeeding in Europe.
Pannick says that his client Maya Yoshida started a culture change when he captained the Japan national team ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Pannick says that Yoshida, who spent almost eight years at Southampton, would insist that any player who sat at his lunch table must communicate in English.
“To get this more worldly mentality is something that he was very keen to emphasise to the players,” said Pannick.
“This current generation of starting national team players or squad players at the World Cup, almost all of them now will speak English to a pretty good degree.”
CHANGING LEAGUE
Most Japanese players will spend time in other European leagues like Belgium, the Netherlands or Portugal before making the step up to the Premier League.
The Championship has become another popular staging post, and there are currently eight Japanese players in England’s second tier.
Post-Brexit changes to work permit rules have forced English clubs to look beyond Europe for signings.
Journalist Osumi says an overall improvement in the level of Japanese players has allowed them to thrive in the Premier League.
But he believes a change in the nature of the league has also made it easier for them to adapt.
“The Premier League has become more tactical, and there are more teams that play as a coordinated unit,” he said.
“That kind of football is something Japanese players find very easy to adapt to.”
