The Shinji Kagawa fascination: What is it about the diminutive Japanese?

Manchester United have enjoyed tremendous success in the last 5-6 years, but apart from the heydays of Ronaldo and Tevez and the delightful play of Berbatov, there hasn’t been a player who has set the stands alight with his play. Robin van Persie has certainly brought a lot to the team after joining from Arsenal, but then by scoring 30-odd goals he is simply doing his job, albeit in a magnificent, effortless manner.

Flair is perhaps not the best word, but it is the first one that comes to mind when we talk of what is missing in this particular Manchester United squad.

Take a quick glance at the current team and you realise that there is simply no one who is capable of skinning a defender (like Eden Hazard does), turning on a six pence and playing in a defence-splitting pass (like David Silva does) or playing a quick one-two and letting loose a piledriver from outside the box (like Santi Cazorla does).

This is by far the most obvious difference between all the big teams and Manchester United. There is no creative fulcrum, no flair, and little imagination in their play. It’s like a robotic, boxy team that relies on efficiency, mutual understanding and a lethal striker waiting for service to guide them to a win.

Again, doing just enough to win, but not enough to thrill and win.

And this is where Kagawa comes in. To put it mildly, Shinji Kagawa is a player who puts bums on seats and then brings those very fans to their feet by his easy-on-the-eye yet exciting-for-the-heart play. A gentle layoff here, an audacious flick there – Kagawa is head and shoulders above his teammates when it comes to pleasing the average match-going fan.

The aesthetic value a player adds to a team cannot be underplayed, and the fact that his tricks and flicks are not merely ornamental in nature but instead improve the quality of the build-up is enough to pass judgement on Kagawa.

Sir Alex Ferguson once claimed that Eric Cantona was someone who “unlocked the attacking potential of the team” by simply training and playing regularly with his team-mates. Great players make average players look very good, and in a Manchester United side that has too many average players but not enough good players, Kagawa’s presence could very well have the same impact as Cantona, metaphorically speaking.

So, while David Moyes might be perplexed at the outpour of anger with regards to Kagawa’s omission from the first team barely a month into the season, he has a chance to calm the frayed nerves and improve the attacking department of the side in one go, simply by playing Kagawa week in, week out.

The message from the fans to David Moyes could not be clearer – less of the usual bland, predictable football, and more of Shinji Kagawa magic please. And David Moyes would do well to heed that advice, for the fans’ sake and his team’s.