Scott Musgrave
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since a young Nagoya Grampus Eight prospect decided to venture to Europe and make a start with lowly Dutch team VVV-Venlo. But after a blinding promotion season that saw the talent score 16 goals from midfield, and make a blistering start to the current Eredivisie season with three goals in two games, it’s no wonder that Keisuke Honda has been linked with some of the giants of Europe, including Liverpool of the English top flight.
Even at a young age, Honda was regarded as quite a talent. Born in Settsu, Osaka prefecture, the young Honda started his footballing education at local club Settsu FC before participating in the youth teams of giants Gamba Osaka. However, not seeing the potential in the 15 year-old Osaka native, he was not offered a place in the club setup.
This then saw Honda see out his education with Seiryo High School where he played a pivotal role in helping the team reach the national semi-finals at that level, during which he was named one of the top four players in the tournament. In 2004 he was then tagged by the JFA as one for professional development, and Aichi team Nagoya Grampus snapped up the youngster as he was finishing school.
From then on his talent blossomed and Honda debuted in the J-League as a 19 year-old, going on to make over 100 appearances, scoring 11 goals, and aiding the Japanese Olympic team to qualification before considering the move to Europe.
In January 2008, the youngster made the move to VVV-Venlo where, after a few pleasantries with the Dutch press, he was thrown into the fray. In his first game he played the full 90 minutes, and expectations were high of the Japanese midfielder, however, he was unable to save Velo from relegation to the Eerste Divisie.
Despite this disappointment, Honda made his debut for the Blue Samurai in a World Cup Qualifying game against Bahrain and successfully competed in the Beijing Olympics with the U-23 squad. Current Japanese coach Takeshi Okada has however be a little reluctant to call upon Honda, as admittedly he has been with most European based players, and as a result Honda has only played six games scoring one goal at the time of writing.
However, after remaining faithful to Velo for the following season, Honda had a breakthrough spell as he proved pivotal in their run to bounce back into the Eredivisie, banging in 16 goals from midfield combined with 13 assists, took over club captaincy and became the designated free-kick taker, all within the space of a year.
Unsurprisingly, Honda also took home MVP honours in the Eerste Divisie for his prowess, and thus the interest from across Europe began.
PSV Eindhoven and other big clubs in the Eredivisie are believed to have already made offers for the midfielder, but these were not seen as generous enough by Venlo.
After some good performances for his country in the Kirin Cup, interest reached a new level and skyrocketed with AZ Alkmaar, Ajax, VfL Wolfsburg, Anderlecht and Galatasaray along with the aforementioned PSV all supposedly chasing the Osakan’s signature.
The oft described utility-man has proven to be a shrewd investment by the Velo board and manager who are arguably lucky to have him to raise the level of the whole team. It is however likely that overtures from other clubs with promises of higher wages and European football might persuade the Venlo favourite to seek greener pastures.
This in turn could prove amazingly profitable for the Blue Samurai as they seem (although posessing ample midfield talent) to lack a true successor to new Espanyol recruit Shunsuke Nakamura. It is by quite some reckoning that the young Honda could be all the player the Nakamura is, and more. Youth is on his side, and the decision to jump ship to Europe and start from the bottom up could prove to be a masterstroke in his development.
With the likes of Liverpool now joining the race for Honda, and his already sparkling early season form, the possibility of Rafael Benitez perhaps throwing a little bit of cash down for the up and comer could be a gamble worth taking.
All speculation aside, Honda has shown another developmental pathway for Japanese talent outside of the comfort of the J-League that could well see a lot more potential stars like himself and his compatriot Takayuki Morimoto at Catania, make a move to Europe early on as to not perhaps slip into the groove that is domestic Japanese football.
There are after all many talented players still playing in the J-League that could quite easily make it on the European stage, the likes of Tulio Tanaka have even been linked with AC Milan in the past, but it seems players are either unwilling to make the move or that their clubs are asking an unreasonable sum for their services.
Honda is man now in demand, the question is, will he stay, or will he go?
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