Hiroki Ito, the ‘Japanese defender,’ was not a competitor
German media ‘TZ’ reported on the 17th (Korean time) that Hiroki Ito entered Munich last Tuesday. He joined Stuttgart, Germany, after starting his career in Japan. He showed outstanding performances for three years. Munich invested about 30 million euros (about 45 billion won) to recruit Hiroki.
Munich suffered its worst slump last season. It failed to win the title of Bundesliga championship, which it had continued for 11 consecutive years, and lost its title at its own Cup championships and UEFA Champions League.
In response, Munich replaced Thomas Tuchel early on and handed over the baton to new coach Bangsang Kompany. Since then, Kompany has aggressively targeted the transfer market and accelerated preparations for the next season.
First of all, Munich reinforced the controversial back door of last season. It recruited Hiroki, the Stuttgart’s runner-up player last season, and ordered the return of Josip Stanisic, who helped Leverkusen win the championship without a loss.
Since then, many soccer-related media such as “Transfermarkt” and “Score 90” have predicted that Kim Min-jae will give way to Hiroki in the main center-back position competition next season.
Analysts say that Kim could repeat the nightmare of the second half by showing lackluster performance, leaving behind the good trend of the first half of the last season. However, media outlets had different views, and Kim Min-jae can now relieve some of the pressure from the competition to become a starting member.토토사이트 순위
“Hiroki will replace Alfonso Davis, whose contract will expire in 2025, at left-side full-back for Munich. He will be given a similar role as Nathan Ake of Manchester City. Hiroki is a left-footed defender who recorded the top 3 percent pass success rate last season,” said TZ, predicting that Kompany will use him as a full-back rather than a center-back.
Such interpretation is highly feasible. In fact, Hiroki used to play both fullback and centerback for the Stuttgart and Japanese national teams. German daily Kicker and others reported that when Hiroki was recruited, he could be a fullback, based on his short stature as a centerback and that Munich already has many excellent centerback resources.