The Guardian - Attacker’s signing sparked more talk about the Asian market but even he succeeds few Japanese will rush to buy a club shirt
The idea that Asian players are signed for commercial reasons should be a bit noughties. There was much talk of Junichi Inamoto making millions for Arsenal when the Japanese midfielder arrived in 2001 but whereas his signing was big news in east Asian football circles, his departure after making no league appearances was barely noticed.
These days most in Europe surely recognise that imports from the east are usually pretty good (like players of all nationalities who make big moves overseas, some fail to settle while others thrive) yet the notion that they also have in their proverbial lockers equally impressive abilities to sell shirts and turn a hefty percentage of those four billion or so Asians into fans of their new club seems to persist. Continue reading...
