Former Arsenal, Manchester United and Inter Milan stars are among the forgotten ballers who are still going strong in Japan today.
The J1 League is one of the most competitive outside of Europe, with stars such as Andres Iniesta, Fernando Torres and David Villa having played there in recent years.
We’ve taken a closer look at the Japanese top flight and have found five forgotten ballers who are still strutting their stuff today.
Shinji Kagawa
Kagawa only spent two years in England, but he quickly established himself as a cult hero at Manchester United.
The Japanese playmaker won the Premier League during his debut season at Old Trafford and produced a handful of memorable moments, including a hat-trick against Norwich.
He’s undoubtedly best known for his time with Borussia Dortmund where he racked up over 200 appearances during his two stints with the club.
Fans of Kagawa will be pleased to know that he’s still producing the goods at the age of 36. He re-joined boyhood club Cerezo Osaka in 2023 and still produces magic on a semi-regular basis.
Ryo Miyaichi
“He has a raw ability which has attracted many clubs around the world.”
That’s what Arsene Wenger said back in 2011 when Arsenal signed a young Miyaichi. His raw pace and trickery was obvious to see from the off, although his career in England never really took off.
Injuries have plagued the winger for most of his professional career and they seemed to hamper his progress during his early days in England especially.
The winger left Arsenal in 2015 having only made seven senior appearances, but thankfully he’s managed to get his career back on track in his native country.
On the back of another brutal ACL injury in 2022, Miyaichi has now returned to action and is playing some of the best football of his career to date.
Now playing for Yokohama F. Marinos, it’s nice to see the 32-year-old doing well for himself.
Yuto Nagatomo
Despite playing for Inter Milan for nine seasons and racking up over 200 appearances for the club, Nagatomo somehow only got his hands on one trophy during his time in Italy.
However, he did enjoy some trophy-filled seasons with Galatasaray before eventually returning to Japan in 2021.
Still going strong at 39 years old, the FC Tokyo full-back is still getting selected for the Japan squad. That’s some going.
Hayao Kawabe
After breaking through at Grasshopper Zurich, Kawabe joined Wolves in January 2022 but never played a game for the Premier League club.
The midfielder was sold to Standard Liege after just a year on Wolves’ books and returned to his homeland last year upon joining Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Still only 30, Kawabe is the highest-rated J1 League player on Transfermarkt and has won eight caps for the national team.
Yoshinori Muto
The Japanese striker never really lived up to expectations during his stint with Newcastle United, although to be fair, he wasn’t given much of a chance.
Muto played just 727 minutes of Premier League football and scored one goal before being promptly shown the exit door at St James’ Park.
Thankfully, he’s managed to get his career back on track in Japan and is now one of Vissel Kobe’s top players.
In 146 appearances for the Japanese club, he’s produced an impressive 70 goal contributions. That’s not bad going.
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AloJapan.com