I've been waiting for some time to make this post, but now, with Modric imminently leaving the club, and the transfer window near it's conclusion, I felt it was time to lay out why I believe the ideal replacement for us is a player no one is talking about. His name is Keisuke Honda, and he currently plays for CSKA Moscow.
Undoubtedly, some of you have seen Honda play for Japan in international competitions. He has a deadly left-foot and is fantastic from set pieces. If you've watched Japan's recent international games in Asian World Cup Qualifying, it is clear that Honda is the best player on their squad. Since returning from a knee injury a few months ago, he has been scoring goals for fun and making both Japan's national team and CSKA tick in their respective games (he already has 2 goals in 4 for CSKA).
While he plays in a very advanced position on the Japanese National team, CSKA uses him in the playmaker role, behind Doumbia (their striker) and Dzagoev (their #10). Interestingly, we've been linked with both of those players this transfer window, but not Honda. I sincerely hope that changes (maybe JJSet will see this post and mention Honda to Daniel!).
After Kagawa moved to United, Honda (who has a strong personality much like Hidetoshi Nakata did) spoke up about perhaps wanting to move on to other challenges, as well.
In fact, in the last transfer window, it looked like he very well might move to Lazio for around 12 million pounds, but that deal fell through at the end. Even paying slightly above that figure would make him significantly cheaper than Moutinho, and likely Dembele, as well, but unlike those two players and Modric, he is much more adept at scoring goals (a long-standing complaint about Luka here).
Set aside the fact that he ticks almost all of the boxes we are looking for on the field, he would be an absolute marketing coup for our attempts to expand into the Japanese fan market. He is the most popular player in that country and him coming to Spurs would be a very big boon financially for us, in my opinion.
Again, I would completely welcome Joao Moutinho, if Levy decides to spend big money on satisfying AVB. But based on Andre's comments today, we are no longer interested in M'Villa or Ramirez, and Moutinho's price tag will make it extremely tough to bring him in. AVB also mentioned that he is looking for "a more creative player."
I truly think Honda fits the bill. He is extremely versatile and could fill several voids in case of an injury to Rafa this season. Yes, he, like Moutinho, does not have Premiership experience, but he isn't lightweight. He's held up well in the physical Russian League and has shown against quality competition on the international stage that he has the tools to be a highly succcessful player on any club team.
Again, I have no idea if Honda is even on our radar (I kinda doubt it, since we haven't been linked to him in any ITK or paper gossip), but I truly think he could be the type of quality signing at a fair price that would fill the gap left by Luka's departure.
Undoubtedly, some of you have seen Honda play for Japan in international competitions. He has a deadly left-foot and is fantastic from set pieces. If you've watched Japan's recent international games in Asian World Cup Qualifying, it is clear that Honda is the best player on their squad. Since returning from a knee injury a few months ago, he has been scoring goals for fun and making both Japan's national team and CSKA tick in their respective games (he already has 2 goals in 4 for CSKA).
While he plays in a very advanced position on the Japanese National team, CSKA uses him in the playmaker role, behind Doumbia (their striker) and Dzagoev (their #10). Interestingly, we've been linked with both of those players this transfer window, but not Honda. I sincerely hope that changes (maybe JJSet will see this post and mention Honda to Daniel!).
After Kagawa moved to United, Honda (who has a strong personality much like Hidetoshi Nakata did) spoke up about perhaps wanting to move on to other challenges, as well.
In fact, in the last transfer window, it looked like he very well might move to Lazio for around 12 million pounds, but that deal fell through at the end. Even paying slightly above that figure would make him significantly cheaper than Moutinho, and likely Dembele, as well, but unlike those two players and Modric, he is much more adept at scoring goals (a long-standing complaint about Luka here).
Set aside the fact that he ticks almost all of the boxes we are looking for on the field, he would be an absolute marketing coup for our attempts to expand into the Japanese fan market. He is the most popular player in that country and him coming to Spurs would be a very big boon financially for us, in my opinion.
Again, I would completely welcome Joao Moutinho, if Levy decides to spend big money on satisfying AVB. But based on Andre's comments today, we are no longer interested in M'Villa or Ramirez, and Moutinho's price tag will make it extremely tough to bring him in. AVB also mentioned that he is looking for "a more creative player."
I truly think Honda fits the bill. He is extremely versatile and could fill several voids in case of an injury to Rafa this season. Yes, he, like Moutinho, does not have Premiership experience, but he isn't lightweight. He's held up well in the physical Russian League and has shown against quality competition on the international stage that he has the tools to be a highly succcessful player on any club team.
Again, I have no idea if Honda is even on our radar (I kinda doubt it, since we haven't been linked to him in any ITK or paper gossip), but I truly think he could be the type of quality signing at a fair price that would fill the gap left by Luka's departure.
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