SON, I got a junior! Tottenham to recruit 20-year-old supernova DF tied to Ronaldo for £5 million, highest ever in J-League history

Jun 24, 2025

SON, I got a junior! Tottenham to recruit 20-year-old supernova DF tied to Ronaldo for £5 million, highest ever in J-League history



SON, I got a junior! Tottenham to recruit 20-year-old supernova DF tied to Ronaldo for £5 million, highest ever in J-League history
Son Heung-min is expected to have a new Japanese teammate.

The BBC reported on the 24th (Korea time) that Tottenham has agreed to recruit center back Takai Gota from Kawasaki Frontale in the Japanese J-League. Dakai will likely join Tottenham next month and will be included in the first volume squad under Thomas Frank, he added.

On the same day, Fabrizio Romano, who is considered the top authority in the European football transfer market, also posted on his SNS page that Tottenham embraces Takai, a Japanese center back. The transfer fee is 5 million pounds (about 9.2 billion won)' and this is the highest transfer fee for a Japanese player in J-League history.




It's literally a surprise transfer. Takai received a lot of attention through the Asian Champions League elite, which recently ended. He tied Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best strikers in the world, in the semi-final against Al Nasr. Amid Takai's performance, Kawasaki defeated Al Nasr 3-2 to reach the final. Al Ahlié lost 0-2 in the final, but Takai received rave reviews.

Takai is a promising player that Japan expects. Takai, born in 2004, is from Kawasaki Youth and signed a professional contract as a second year high school student in 2022. It was the youngest record in the club's history. Takai, who made his J-League debut against Nagoya Grampus in 2023, showed remarkable growth and even won the J-League Young Player Award last season.

SON, I got a junior! Tottenham to recruit 20-year-old supernova DF tied to Ronaldo for £5 million, highest ever in J-League history
The national team also paid attention. Takai, who played in the 2023 U-20 World Cup, was selected as the youngest member of the Japanese national team at the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup and contributed to advancing to the Paris Olympics. Of course, he played in the finals and showed good performance. In September last year, he played as a substitute in the third Asian qualifying round for the North-China World Cup against China and made his A-match debut. In the subsequent match against Saudi Arabia, he also played as a starter. Takai performed well and impressed coach Hajime Moriyasu. In Japan, the final entry for the North Korea-China World Cup is expected to be likely.




European teams interested in young Asian players have set their eyes on Takai. At first, he was likely to go to Serie A in Italy. In particular, Udinese was active. Udinese, who suffered from defensive instability last season, has been negotiating with Takai. Udinese has a €3.5 million transfer fee ready. Takai is the third Japanese center back to play in Serie A after Takehiro Tomiyasu who played for Bologna and Maya Yoshida who played for Sampdoria.

However, the situation turned around as Tottenham jumped in. Tottenham had Takai with a £5 million transfer fee, the highest among players who went straight to Europe in the J-League. Tottenham will inevitably need to overhaul its defense this summer. Christian Romero, who was a key defender, is now in the spotlight of Atletico Madrid. Coach Frank is making a fresh start over the offense and defense, but for now, he is reorganizing himself with young players with high energy levels. Takai also appears to be part of this change.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.