Japanese defender Kota Takai is ready to hitch Tottenham from Kawasaki Frontale for £5m – a file charge for a J-League participant transferring overseas – however who’s he?
Takai has a wealth of expertise for his age, taking part in the primary of his 77 senior video games within the Asian equal of the Champions League at simply 17-years-old.
Commercial
He featured on the 2024 Olympic Video games for Japan and has since gained 4 senior caps, together with his debut coming in a 7-0 victory over China only a day after his twentieth birthday in September 2024.
He’s athletic, 6ft 3 inches tall, snug on the ball and has an eye fixed for a move. Takai has accomplished nearly 2,000 passes within the J-League for the reason that begin of final season with an 88% success fee, which ranks him fifteenth amongst all defenders.
In April, he showcased a lot of his qualities when he marked Cristiano Ronaldo as Frontale defeated Al-Nassr 3-2 within the AFC Champions League Elite semi-final.
Spurs followers of a sure classic will bear in mind the membership’s solely earlier Japanese participant, Kazuyuki Toda. He joined on mortgage from Shimizu S-Pulse in January 2003 and made simply 4 appearances below then supervisor Glenn Hoddle.
It is truthful to say that a lot larger issues are anticipated of Takai.