Leicester made their third foray into the summer transfer market last Friday by acquiring Mainz striker Shinji Okazaki on a four-year deal, believed to be in the region of £7m.
The Japan international follows Christian Fuchs and Robert Huth to the King Power Stadium and, as assistant manager Steve Walsh revealed, the striker has been a long-term target for the Foxes:
“We have been watching him for the best part of two years and we tried to get him to sign last summer and again in January, but now we have been successful we are really pleased to get him. He is a real talent and the fans will take to him. Not only is he good with the ball but also out of possession he is exactly what we need. He is a high energy player. He is very opportunistic and any mistakes that are made by defenders he will capitalise on that and stick the ball in the net. That is the main asset. Out of possession he knows how to play, he knows positional sense and how to close players down. His work rate is phenomenal.”
Speaking on the move, Okazaki praised the Foxes for their late-season revival while insisting he’s prepared to face the unique challenges of England’s top flight:
“I will do my best to show how I can play and try to make a lot of goals for the supporter. I watched every match [last season] in the Premier League; not all of them are easy. There were hard games. In the last few games the crowd were great and the players responded. It was an amazing result at the end of the season. It’s a huge challenge to come here to the Premier League but I hope I can show everyone what I can do.”
The History
Okazaki started his club career at J-League outfit Shimizu S-Pulse, where he signed a professional contract in 2005. The frontman went on to tally 121 league appearances for the first division side, with his final two campaigns harvesting 27 goals and eight assists.
In response to Okazaki’s impressive scoring rate, Stuttgart snapped him up in January 2011. In his first full season with Die Roten (The Reds), Okazaki established himself as a regular starter and notched seven goals in 27 league outings. The next term, however, saw him limited to a bit-part role, as Okazaki produced a solitary goal and zero assists across 25 outings, clocking just 1,013 minutes in the process.
Despite this poor form, Mainz sealed Okazaki’s signature in the summer of 2013. His debut season was a resounding success under the stewardship of Thomas Tuchel, serving up 15 goals and one assist in 33 league appearances. His second campaign was similarly productive, with 12 goals and six assists in 32 appearances, making Okazaki the highest-scoring Japanese player to ever grace the league.
On the international front, Okazaki earned his first senior cap for Japan in October 2008, having competed for the under-23 team during the Beijing Olympics. More recently, he netted for Samurai Blue during the group stages of the 2014 World Cup and the 2015 Asian Cup. With 43 goals to his name in 93 appearances, Okazaki is Japan’s third-top scorer and their sixth-most capped player of all time.
The Prospects
It’s fair to say that Tuesday’s surprise dismissal of Nigel Pearson leaves plenty of uncertainty surrounding the Foxes right now. Leicester’s late surge to safety was based on a successful 3-4-1-2 formation, with Leonardo Ulloa and Jamie Vardy supported by Riyad Mahrez; yet with wing-back systems somewhat of a rarity in England’s top-flight, a change of tactics may well be on the cards once a new boss is appointed.
Given that the likes of David Nugent and Andrej Kramaric are also vying with Ulloa and Vardy for the striker positions, Okazaki’s versatility could boost his prospects of pitch time.
The striker is adaptable enough to also play on the flank and in a central support berth, though his record in Germany indicates he’s best utilised through the middle. In all but three of his 65 appearances at Mainz, Okazaki was fielded as a centre-forward (usually in a 4-3-2-1 set-up), which paid dividends with regards to his attacking returns (27 goals, seven assists) over the past two Bundesliga seasons. Tasked with a variety of roles (support striker, left and right winger) in his final term at Stuttgart – and only afforded four starts as their frontman – Okazaki served up a single goal.
Certainly, standing five foot eight inches tall, the Japan international is no like-for-like replacement for Ulloa, who contested more aerial duels than any other forward in the Premier League last term and may well remain the Foxes’ main target man.
In terms of how he stacks up against Leicester’s current forward contingent, Okazaki’s average of 48 minutes per shot last season is near-identical to Vardy (49.1) and ahead of Ulloa’s 51.1, whilst his shot conversion rate of 20.3%, whilst just behind Ulloa (22.4%), was far superior to the likes of Nugent (12.2%), Vardy (10.4%) and Kramaric (8.7%). Such statistics suggest that he’ll be lined up for a central berth, then, as the Foxes look to improve upon last term’s 46-goal haul.
By virtue of Leicester’s excellent start to the new campaign (SUN, why, TOT, bou, AVL, sto), Okazaki – if priced at 6.0 or below – could emerge as a profitable third striker should he be afforded a run of starts from the outset.
Given the wealth of competition for places in Leicester’s forward line, though, it remains to be seen whether he’ll emerge as a viable option for Fantasy managers or, like Kramaric, struggle to adapt to his new surrounds and rely on minutes off the bench.
Pre-season should hopefully shed more light on his prospects for the campaign ahead as the Foxes look to regroup in light of Pearson’s dramatic departure.
Future Reference
