Takefusa Kubo's displays for Japan at the Copa América have added to the feeling at Real Madrid that they have finally snared the Asian star they have long been after.
In Takefusa Kubo, Real Madrid feel they have finally snapped up the Asian star they had been looking for for years. The 18-year-old returned to Tokyo yesterday with the Japan team, having performed at the Copa América in a way that has merely served to ratchet up the sense of excitement around him at the Bernabéu.
The attacking midfielder is set to straddle the divide between Castilla and the first team, following a strategy that also previously applied to Martin Odegaard: he will be included in the seniors' pre-season preparations, and will participate regularly in Zinedine Zidane's training sessions next term.
In Brazil, Kubo was clearly unfazed by having only made his international debut a month earlier, or by being the second-youngest player ever to represent the Samurai Blue. His 16 total attempted dribbles at the tournament is behind only team-mate Shoya Nakajima (17)... and a certain Lionel Messi (23).
Since his days at Barcelona, Kubo has heard himself be dubbed the 'Japanese Messi' so many times that he appears to have litte appetite left for such comparisons. "I don't like being talked about in the same breath as such a top, top player - and all I'm going to do is just focus on working my socks off," he told an interview in excellent Spanish after Japan's defeat to Chile in Sao Paulo.
Adaptation to life in Madrid expected to be smooth
What is perhaps generating the most excitement at Real Madrid is seeing what first Castilla coach Raúl González Blanco, and then first-team boss Zidane, can do with a starlet who is growing with every game he plays.
Before setting off for the Copa América, he scored four goals in his last four matches for Tokyo FC, and in Japan the feeling is that they are witnessing the rise of a new emperor of the nation's game.
Clearly, Kubo also promises to boost Madrid's media impact, and serve as a marketing gold mine for the club, in a country that Los Blancos have not visited since playing two friendlies against Tokyo Verdy and Jubilo Iwata in summer 2005.
Despite boasting a host of commercial partners in other Asian countries - Hankook in South Korea, ManBetX and China City Bank in China - the 13-time European champions do not currently have a single global or regional Japanese sponsor. Kubo's influence will surely change that...