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By DOMINIC HOGAN and PA MEDIA
Published: | Updated:
Tottenham have agreed a deal to sign Japan international defender Kota Takai from J1-League side Kawasaki Frontale, according to the Press Association.
The 20-year-old will move to north London in July for a £5million fee and will compete in central defence with Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin.
He made his international debut in September in a 7-0 World Cup qualifying win over China having helped his club side to an eighth-place finish domestically last season.
Despite the seemingly modest sum, though, his £5m transfer to Tottenham will become the record sale for a Japanese player from the J1-League.
Takai has spent 14 years at Frontale, having initially signed into the youth ranks in 2011, and graduated to the senior team back in 2022 while still only a teenager, and has made four appearances for the Japanese national side.
Rather than arrive to slot in in the youth set up, Takai is expected to become a feature in the senior team under Thomas Frank.
Tottenham have agreed a £5million fee for Japanese wonderkid Kota Takai according to PA
The defender has already played 82 senior matches at the age of 20 and will depart for a record fee for a Japanese player from the nation’s top-flight
Takai will become the second signing under Thomas Frank of the summer for Tottenham
It is understood that he was identified by the club’s technical director Johan Lange, and becomes the latest in a growing line of youngsters brought straight in the senior team.
Those that have come before him in recent history include, Destiny Udogie, Pape Matar Sarr and Lucas Bergvall.
In 2024 he was named Japan’s young player of the year having broken into Kawasaki’s first team two years previously.
He is the club’s second signing since Frank was appointed as head coach in place of Ange Postecoglou earlier in June, after Mathys Tel’s six-month loan from Bayern Munich was made permanent.
It comes amid a summer of upheaval in north London, with reports from Football London suggesting that Spurs’ chief football office had been placed on gardening leave.
Scott Munn arrived from the City Football Group’s Chinese branch in 2023, joining the same year as Postecoglou.
He was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of City Football Group in China back in 2019 and had previously worked for nine years with A-League side Melbourne City FC as their Chief Executive Officer.
The Australian also had extensive experience working outside of football, starting his career within the Sydney Organising Committee for the 2000 Olympic Games, before moving to work with the National Rugby League and the Australian Football League.
