The new Blue and White player passed the medical last week, joining his teammates in the pre-season stage in Estepona. Tomorrow, Wednesday he will be officially presented, at 12:30, at the ‘Juan Cortés’ press room at La Rosaleda.
Extensive career
Okazaki (Japan, 1986) has been characterised throughout his long career for being a rapid attacker, a vertical, hard-working goal-scorer, who has accumulated successful experiences in Germany and England this decade.
He was part of Shimizu S-Pulse in the J1 League (2005-10), going on to form part of the best 11 in the domestic competition in 2009, and being named the world’s best top goal scorer of the year by the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics).
He made the move to Europe in the 2010/11 campaign, joining the ranks of VfB Sttutgart, winning a German Cup runner-up title in 2012/13. Between 2013 and 2015 he played for FSV Mainz 05, scoring 27 goals in the Bundesliga in two brilliant individual seasons.
Historical feat with Leicester
After five years in Germany, for the last five years he has played for English outfit Leicester City. Okazaki, in his first year in the UK, played a fundamental part in one of the greatest feats in the history of football at club level. Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester won the Premier League in 2015/16, beating teams such as Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham… with a deadly attacking duo formed of Vardy and Okazaki.
The following season he participated in the UEFA Champions League with the English side, and in 17/18 achieved his best scoring record in the Premier League with six goals in 27 games. In total, he accumulated the remarkable figure of 114 First Division matches in England over the past four seasons.
High-scoring international
Okazaki’s records with the Japan national side are impressive. A total of 119 matches and 50 goals (0,42 per match on average) since his debut in 2008. He has played in three FIFA World Cups, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018 and has also won an Asian Cup title (Qatar, 2011).
