The second coming of Shinji Kagawa

Kagawa’s second spell at Dortmund has been revitalized

In July 2010, Shinji Kagawa joined Dortmund on a free transfer and did astoundingly well for the club, helping them win the league in his first season as a Schwarzgelben player and the double next season. Manchester United came calling and he joined them for €16 million. But, he could never carve out a starting spot for himself even though he scored 6 goals in his first season.

He was played as a left winger in the following season rather than his preferred position of No. 10. His former manager Jurgen Klopp encapsulated it perfectly in his distinctive Kloppo style stating “Shinji Kagawa is one of the best players in the world and he now plays 20 minutes at Manchester United, on the left wing! My heart breaks. Really, I have tears in my eyes. Central midfield is Shinji’s best role”.

Shinji ultimately left the club on the deadline day of the 2014 summer transfer window and moved back to his so called ‘second home’ Borussia Dortmund. Fans of the German club were the happiest fans in the world after hearing this acquisition of their lost hero. And Shinji couldn’t have had any better comeback after when he scored in his first game for Dortmund after moving back to the club against Freiburg.

Not a happy homecoming

Having said that, Kagawa didn’t have a good time afterwards.

After years of success with his symbolic ‘gegenpressing’ (counter-pressing) style of play, Jurgen Klopp’s tactics backfired. Bundesliga coaches started to park the bus, while playing on the counter and let Dortmund have the possession. Shinji Kagawa struggled to cope with this change in style of play because he had to play in slightly advanced role and was often outnumbered or outmuscled by defenders. Whenever he got the ball the opposition defenders were too quick to close him down preventing him from having much space in midfield and eventually he struggled with this kind of aggression like he did back in the Premier League.

Although, Klopp managed to bring back Shinji to his former club, it was up to the new manager Thomas Tuchel to make use of his abilities. But, after a dismal season there were doubts about whether he would feature in the new team of Tuchel. However, Thomas Tuchel was keen to work with him and now very few fans would disagree that Tuchel hasn’t used Kagawa as he should have. In fact, Tuchel managed to find even more in Kagawa.

Tuchel’s tactical triumph

Tuchel’s tactics have allowed Kagawa to flourish

Shinji Kagawa has often been seen as a string-puller along with Ilkay Gundogan this season. Tuchel’s new system which allows the formation to change from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-1-4-1 formation profited Shinji. He plays in slightly advanced position compared to Gundogan but effectively drops deep as the game wears on, which offers him more freedom in midfield and helps the midfield with his passing skills to dominate the midfield and to create more chances. It’s November and he already has eight assists to his name.

In the offensive position Kagawa tends to link up with players like Reus, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan to create more chances. He uses his ability to create spaces even under extreme pressure to find support quite easily. When Gundogan’s not in the team sheet he can work as a number eight as well but sometimes lacks the physique. Shinji Kagawa has scored seven goals for Dortmund in all competitions this season, his goal against SC Paderborn in the DFB Pokal is well worth a look.

Shinji Kagawa has created 29 chances this season in the Bundesliga, which is the most by any Dortmund player this season except for Mkhitaryan, who has also created 29 chances. Kagawa also has a decent passing accuracy in the Bundesliga with 86% of his 733 passes have gone in the right direction, of which 55% of them were forward passes and Shinji is the fifth best passer in the team.

Many players from the Bundesliga have made the big money move to big clubs but mostly failed to live up to the expectations. Eventually they’ve ended their career after spending time on the bench most of the time. Kagawa, however is bucking that trend, if anything, he made a smart decision to move back to the Bundesliga and he is on his way to redeem his status as a ‘world class’ midfielder.

Considering Shinji Kagawa’s fiery form this season, Borussia Dortmund fans have every reason to be optimistic about the Japanese maestro and given his rather young age of 26, it is only a matter of time until we see Shinji Kagawa elevating his status as a top midfielder.