From South Korea to Japan: after the departure of Kim Minjae, soon to come, the defense leader of Naples it could be from another Far Eastern country. We are talking about Ko Itakura, the 26-year-old center back of Borussia Moenchengladbach with whom Aurelio De Laurentiis seems to have fallen in love with and who in some respects resembles another famous footballer Japanese moved to Serie A: Hidetoshi Nakata.
Naples on Itakura, Japan’s national expert Naples, Itakura possible heir to KimNaples, Itakura loves fashion like Nakata Naples on Itakura, Japan’s national expert
Born in Yokohama*100025 * in January ’97, Ko Itakura is a defender who already has international experience, having played 138 matches between Eredivisie, Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 (German Serie B) and boasting 20 appearances for the Japannational team, with which he also took part – as a starter – in the last World Cup in Qatar (active also has assists against Germany). It was Manchester Citywho brought him to Europe, who took him in January 2019 from Kawasaki Frontale (with which he had won the J League two years earlier) and then immediately transfer him to loan to Groningen: after the first 6 months of acclimatization, Itakura became a regular in the Dutch team, immediately showing his qualities as a quick and intelligent defender and becoming a regular in the Eredivisie in the following two seasons.
In August 2021 City decided to test Itakura in a more physical and faster football, so they sent him to Germany, to Schalke: the Japanese contributed to the promotion from Bundesliga 2 to the top league of the Gelsenkirchen team, also scoring 4 goals, attracting the attention of Borussia Moenchengladbach, who paid 5 million euros for his card in July 2022. Itakura’s first season in the Bundesliga was excellent, despite a knee injury causing him to miss almost half of the first leg: 24 appearances and 2 assists for him with the Borussia shirt.
Naples, Itakura possible heir to Kim
Aurelio De Laurentiis seems to have fallen in love with Itakura not only for the possibility that the signing of the Japanese would give Napoli to expand the influence of its brand in the Asian market. Moenchengladbach’s defender is believed to be the possible heir of Kim Minjae, who is set to move to Bayern Munich within this week, whom he most resembles in two ways: Itakura he is a very fast centre-back and always looking for theadvance on the attacker, just like the Korean. Compared to Kim, however, he has a completely different physical structure: despite being 188 cm tall, he is rather slender, a feature that makes him very quick in recoveries but which represents a limit in melee with attackers.
Not randomly in Borussia he gave his best next to a physically stronger defender like Elvedi. On the other hand, however, Itakura has skills in control, passing and vision of the game that are even superior to Kim: for this reason, he too was deployed in midfield during his career, as a halfback. Also in common with Kim is the personality: Itakura has character on the pitch and is very outgoing off it.
Naples, Itakura loves fashion like Nakata
If Napoli took Itakura, the serie A would find a player who would remember another high-level Japanese champion who passed through the our league: Hidetoshi Nakata. In addition to the reddish hair color, Itakura and the ex Perugia and Roma share a passion for fashion: he loves shopping and also traveling to visit shops and showrooms of big brands, especially European ones.
