French soccer team Monaco once tried to lure Japanese star Hidetoshi Nakata away from his club in Italy.
Monaco sports director Henri Biancheri knew Nakata would thrive on the field, but he worried that his relatively small club would be overwhelmed by the midfielder's circus-like presence.
PHOTO: AP
``It would have been enormous, perhaps too big to cope with,'' Biancheri said. ``Can you imagine the revenue he [Nakata] would bring to Monaco? Every home game there would be 500 Japanese people making the trip. Then you have the hotels booked up, and don't forget the casinos.''
In the end, Monaco backed off and Nakata stayed in Italy.
Biancheri's observations raise the question: Are Asian players in Europe mostly gimmicks to sell merchandise back home? Or, do they represent the largest source of untapped soccer talent on earth?
Undoubtedly, both are true as players from the emerging soccer triangle of China, Japan and South Korea become commonplace in leagues in England, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.
Rising sun
The surge in player talent from Asia is partially a result of last year's World Cup, where South Korea became the continent's first team to reach the semifinals and Japan advanced to the second round for the first time.
China also qualified for the World Cup but failed to score in three losses.
At home, players like Nakata are staples of local news and celebrity faces endorsing products from cars to computers, blue jeans to sports drinks.
European teams that were unknown in Asia a few years ago now have web links in Japanese, Korean or Chinese and retail outlets on the ground.
When English team Fulham got Japanese World Cup star Junichi Inamoto on loan over the summer from Arsenal, 30 percent of the Web site hits were from Japan.
``When we introduced Inamoto we had 60 to 70 Japanese reporters attending and 12 camera crews,'' Fulham spokesman Carmelo Mifsud said. ``If he were English, it would take someone like David Beckham to get that kind of coverage.''
Fulham has hired a Japanese marketing assistant to dig up business deals with Japanese companies and slapped its so-called ``Rising Son'' on the cover of its monthly magazine.
Inamoto scored two goals in the World Cup and had four in Europe's Intertoto Cup for Fulham, helping the London team qualify for the more prestigious UEFA Cup. An ankle injury later slowed much of his season.
Inamoto was humbled at Arsenal, where he seldom played after leaving Japanese league side Gamba Osaka.
``I was at the bottom as a player in the team at Arsenal,'' he said. ``But it was that team that taught me how good you have to be.''
Chinese midfielder Li Tie is making an impact at Premier League rival Everton after being named player of the year in China last year.
The Liverpool club brought in a former Chinese sports journalist, 29-year-old Mei Zhang, to run its Chinese-language Web site and work with Chinese journalists. It also landed Kejian, the Chinese mobile phone company, as its major sponsor.
``We have also hired 10 Chinese students to help out at games and work with public relations,'' said Mei, who just completed an MBA in soccer management at Liverpool University.
Li learned soccer basics and some Portuguese while training for five years in Brazil. English is the next challenge.
``I hope the Everton fans will give me time to settle and learn,'' he said. ``I will play better as I speak the language more.''
Another Chinese player, Sun Jihai, plays for Manchester City. When Everton played Manchester City on Jan. 1, it was dubbed the ``China Derby.''
An Inter Milan sports store is scheduled to open this month in Tokyo, fruit of a five-year deal the club signed with Japanese sports retailer JSV. The retailer has a similar partnership with Manchester United, the NBA and American Major League Baseball.
Soccer's popularity in Japan got a boost five years ago when Nakata arrived in Serie A with Perugia. He later moved to Roma and is now a regular starter with Parma. So it was no surprise that Italy was the most popular foreign team at last year's World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
Even the relatively modest Belgian league has recognized the commercial pulling power of Asian players. At defending champion Racing Genk, Japan's Takayuki Suzuki is among the team's most popular players; as well known for his ``blonde-bomber'' hair style as his playing skill.
Genk's shirt sponsor is Nitto Europe, part of Japan's Nitto Denko Corp, an industrial and electronics producer.
Connections
``An important reason for us to sign Suzuki is that our main sponsors have their headquarters in Japan,'' club president Jos Vaesen said. ``But this is no act just to satisfy our sponsors. Suzuki is a very talented player.''
The Japanese, Chinese and South Korean World Cup teams were coached by Europeans, coaches who encouraged players to hone their skills with European clubs.
But none of the Asians play with elite sides such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United or AC Milan.
Prominent Spanish soccer writer Jose Samano isn't convinced.
``There are not many Asian players in Spain because simply they are not good enough,'' the El Pais journalist said. ``Asia is nothing more than an incipient market. The reasons for signing players from Japan or South Korea are more to with marketing than talent.
``Real Madrid would never sign an Asian player for that reason because it already has players with marketing potential like Ronaldo or Zidane. And if you look at all the big clubs, none of them have Asian players.''
Biancheri, the Monaco official, suggested Asians may need a bit more time to reach their potential in Europe. ``It is more difficult for Asian players to adapt quickly,'' he said, citing the physical nature of European soccer and language and lifestyle changes.
But Inamoto has his way, the World Cup was only the beginning.
``I don't want to be known as Inamoto, the guy who did well at the World Cup,'' the Fulham midfielder said.
``I also want to establish myself as a good player in Europe.''
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