Spanish steps
Continent’s brightest talent heads to La Liga
“One of the most promising young players in the world” Real Madrid on signing Takefusa Kubo in 2019
Ever since Asian players started heading to Europe in numbers, Germany’s Bundesliga and the English Premier League have been the destinations of choice. Not many ventured to Spain, and even fewer have had any success in La Liga.
Former Iran captain Javad Nekounam had a fairly solid six seasons with Osasuna but the short-lived experiences of Shunsuke Nakamura at Espanyol and Shinji Okazaki at Malaga – who both managed to shine elsewhere in Europe – have been more representative. But things are starting to change.
In January 2019, China’s biggest star Wu Lei signed for Espanyol and settled quickly. In January 2020, former South Korea captain Ki Sung-yueng joined Real Mallorca. And while there is plenty of interest back in East Asia as to their exploits, there is even more excitement over two younger talents.
Lee Kang-in at Valencia and Takefusa Kubo, who
is on loan at Real Mallorca from Real Madrid, are 19 and 18 respectively, and there are high hopes back home for both. Having already made their senior international debuts, it is hoped that they will be mainstays of the South Korea and Japan national teams respectively for years to come.
Lee first captured the attention of his nation as a seven-year-old in a team called Shoot Dori in a popular reality TV show in which a group of children were trained by famous football figures in Korea and competed against other teams. Lee blew the opposition – and the coaches – away.
At the age of 11 he signed for Valencia and went on to make his debut in a Copa Del Rey match in 2018. By that time Valencia had inserted a buyout clause in his contract of €80million and there was talk in the Spanish media of naturalising the player – with the benefit that he would be able to avoid Korean military service – which did not go down well back in Seoul and was swiftly quashed by Lee’s father.
The attacking midfielder made his La Liga debut in early 2019 but really made an international name for himself at the Under-20 World Cup where he scored two goals and made another four. With his impressive close control and dribbling skills – not to mention his passing and vision – Lee led his country to the Final and was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s MVP, following in the footsteps of Diego Maradona, Lionel
Messi and Paul Pogba.
Having just turned 19 there is plenty of time on Lee’s side and the next step is to establish himself as a regular starter at Valencia as the majority of his appearances this season have been from the bench.
Kubo has also been making waves. Just three months younger than Lee, he also went to Spain in 2011, joining Barcelona and working his way up through the youth ranks. But, when the Catalan powerhouse were found to have violated FIFA’s international transfer policy for under-18 players, Kubo returned to Japan and made his J. League debut for FC Tokyo while still only 15.
Like other East Asian players who had grown up in Europe, Kubo played with more freedom and individuality than his domestic-based contemporaries, was full of confidence and less afraid to make mistakes. And, given his tender age, people were soon taking notice.
In June 2019 he made his international debut against El Salvador just five days after his 18th birthday and it was expected that a return to Barcelona was imminent.
Instead, Real Madrid nipped in and signed a player they called “one of the most promising young players in the world...with excellent technique and great vision for the game”.
Loaned out to Mallorca, Spanish fans have been treated to some of his special talents this season – such as a goal against Villarreal in November that showcased his ability to find space around the area and shoot from distance. He has already demonstrated that he can handle life in La Liga and the addition of Ki Sung-yueng in a deeper role should see the youngster get plenty of advice from an old Asian hand.
If Lee and Kubo continue to improve they could be mainstays of South Korea and Japan for years to come – and may even become the first Asian stars to really shine in Spain since Paulino Alcantara scored for fun at Barcelona a century ago.