Japan's NXT: Kota Takai

Kota Takai for Kawasaki Frontale (credit Kenta Harada)

Burst Onto The J-League Scene

At just 19, Kota Takai made his debut for the J-League giant, Kawasaki Frontale. Now 20 years old, the sky seems to be too small of a limit for the defender dubbed as the 'Japanese John Stones'.

Despite his tender age , Takai has claimed the number 2 shirt and the starting position, predominantly playing on the central right side of a 4-man defence and occasionally filling in at right back. In a squad featuring the ever-present Yasuto Wakizaka and the tricky Marcinho, Takai seems to be the standout performer in terms of consistent, solid displays of maturity that exceed his age.

He's chipped in with 2 goals in 18 matches for Kawasaki, perhaps highlighting his aerial dominance both offensively and defensively, at 6 foot 3 inches. His defensive stats are solid too, with Takai this season racking up a 74% tackle success rate, alongside 20 interceptions and a whopping 82 recoveries.

Key Traits:

• Excellent wealth of experience for a man so young - 77 games for club already, including AFC Champions League experience.

• Towering physicality - 64% of aerial duels won with both goals this season coming from set-pieces.

• Refined ball-playing from the back.

• Surprising recovery speed.

• Player comparison: Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach), John Stones (Manchester City), Kim-min Jae (Bayern Munich)

Potential Future Teams:

• Brighton and Hove Albion: Even looking past the obvious Japanese and Kawasaki Frontale connection with Mitoma, Brighton are a machine that develops players - particularly those of a young, obscure ilk. I can totally see Brighton making a move for him, where I can imagine him getting game time, but perhaps not starting.

  
  

• KVC Westerlo: Since Westerlo of the Belgian First Division are losing their beloved loanee Luka Vuskovic, who returns to Tottenham, Kota Takai is a great fit into a league which is familiar to Japanese players. Westerlo play in the same 4-2-3-1 formation, which helps Takai settle in nicely, straight into the first eleven.

  
  

• Burnley FC: With the departure of CJ Egan-Riley to Marseille, Burnley will be in the market for a defender to boost their now Premier League squad. Whilst this would be a more risky move for Takai, with Burnley likely to struggle next season, it could be a pathway to a big move to an established Premier League side, should he perform well.

Whilst he is still young, I do believe Kota Takai will be the next Japanese player who will not only make it to Europe, but is built to succeed in Europe. He has all the attributes of a success story, it's now about making the right decisions off the pitch, as his feet more than do the talking on it.