Shinji Kagawa wants to play more regularly at Manchester United

Shinji Kagawa in action for Japan

Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa has confessed that his bit-part role for the club this season is damaging his performance on the world stage, Sky Sports reports.

The 24-year-old stated that he did not give his best performance for his country against Serbia and Belarus as his form and fitness have taken a fall.

The Japan international has spent most of this season on the bench for United and has been in the first-team on just three occasions under new manager David Moyes. Kagawa played a big part in the 2-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion but was substituted during half-time for technical reasons.

Kagawa is sure that more playing time will resurrect the form he once showed at German club Borussia Dortmund.

“There’s a matter of fitness and there’s also that atmosphere of playing for my country,” Kagawa said. “It’s different from the atmosphere at United, but you still get a good feel for being on the pitch when you play regularly.

“Maybe it’s because I’m not used to being on the pitch of late, but I didn’t feel like I was able to enter these two games properly.

“During tough times like these I have to improve myself.

“Personally, I felt strongly after these two matches (against Serbia and Belarus) that I need to play more and, as a team, there are many things we need to do.

“We all need to go back to our European or J-League clubs and take what we learned in these two matches and work to fix those problems.”