Shinji Kagawa: Borussia Dortmund’s undervalued midfielder
By Oliver Campo
Shinji Kagawa is one of the most popular footballers from Japan in recent memory. His style of play and ability on the ball garnered attention from Borussia Dortmund and eventually Manchester United. Now, Kagawa is with BVB until 2020 and is taking his spot back in the midfield.
Jurgen Klopp secured Kagawa at the age of 21 and the playmaker had a great start to his first season with Borussia Dortmund. Until Kagawa picked up an injury with the Japanese national team which cut his season short. Kagawa was still one of the best players in the Bundesliga even though he missed half of it in the 2010/2011 season.
Having won the Bundesliga title in his first season, Kagawa made sure to not let his second season end in injury. Even though he spent some time on the bench, he turned in 17 goals and 14 assists (per transfermarkt) throughout all competitions. The second season amounted to a DFB-Pokal cup and Bundesliga title win. Kagawa was on fire.
The transfer to England
In 2013, Kagawa moved to Manchester United and won the Premier League that same season. Under four different managers, the Japanese midfielder failed to materialize most of his form with BVB though.
He achieved many firsts for a Japanese player in the Premier League. Kagawa always held a part of Dortmund with him while in England. Eventually, He found himself left out of a stacked team like United, Kagawa came back to Borussia Dortmund with open arms.
Returning to Germany
Klopp was all too happy to have his midfielder back. Even with a lot of play time handed to Kagawa, Klopp would eventually leave at the end of the season Kagawa returned.
There was plenty of good tactical use of Shinji Kagawa over the years, but he was never treated as a big deal it appeared. Peter Bosz mismanaged Borussia Dortmund horribly, but the midfielder never gave up. There was a lot of heart and energy from him no matter how bad the situation got.
Peter Stöger has placed good faith in Kagawa and his form is better. With 2 goals and 3 assists under Stöger (per transfermarkt) he is an absolute asset to the team. Yet, he isn’t highly rated by many and was recently losing play time to Gonzalo Castro or Nuri Sahin.
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Mario Gotze, Christian Pulisic, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang garner a lot of attention. This is not an attack on any players, but these are a few that tend to outshine others on the team.
Vahid Halilhodžić (Japanese International team manager) didn’t use the midfielder for the World Cup Qualifiers. These qualifiers determined if Japan would head to Russia this Summer and he was left out of the squad. Making the national team didn’t matter if he was not going to play, Kagawa returned to Germany before the start of the last qualifier. (Japan Times)
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Shinji Kagawa is one of the best-attacking midfielders in the Bundesliga today. He is constantly overlooked or overshadowed, but his quality is irreplaceable. With Stöger at the helm, the 28-year-old could get back to his best form yet.