Urawa Reds Working the German Pipeline

By: Martha | January 16th, 2008

Earlier this month, Urawa Reds took another step in their effort to replace the goals they lost when Jefferson left, securing the signature of Eintracht Frankfurt striker and Japanese international Naohiro Takahara, and it’s now being reported that they’re set to send midfielder Makoto Hasebe back the other way, to Bundesliga side Vfl Wolfsburg. The loss of up-and-coming Japanese international Hasebe is not going to do much for Urawa on the pitch, but the interest from abroad — he was also a target for Italian side Siena — is just another sign of the rising international status of Urawa, and the Japanese game in general. Not that that offers much consolation at this point.

Takahara’s sometimes peripatetic career has taken him as far as a loan spell with Boca Juniors, but the 29-year-old had been in Germany since joining Hamburger SV six years ago, a move that made him only the third Japanese player every to play in the Bundesliga. He was a regular with Hamburger, playing nearly 100 matches in four years, but his European career didn’t really take off until he moved to Frankfurt last season, where he settled in quickly and scored 11 goals — including a hat trick — for his new team. Injury problems this season have severely limited his impact, though, and despite having a contract with the player that runs through 2009, Frankfurt agreed to release him; he’s joining the Reds for less than €2 million. Not coincidentally, despite a lingering knee injury Takahara has also been invited to the national team training camp that will open shortly.

Hasabe, meanwhile, is only 24, and is seen as one Japan’s most promising midfield talents, having been a regular for Urawa since he was 19. He’s been desperate to move to Europe as soon as possible, and was reported in the Japanese press last month to be headed for Italy, presumably to Siena. Wolfsburg won the race for his signature, though, and Hasabe is expected in Germany today for his medical, and to sign what is thought to be a long-term contract.