‘The fans will take to him’; Kamada’s journey so far
Dan Orlowitz is a Tokyo-based sportswriter, focusing primarily on the J.League, Samurai Blue, and Japanese football as a whole.
A Philadelphia native and graduate of Simon's Rock College, he moved to Japan at the end of 2006 and fell in love with the beautiful game from behind the FC Tokyo goal.
Dan’s words, photos, voice, and occasionally visage have appeared online, in print, and over the airwaves for numerous outlets in several languages since 2011; you can find out more about his work here, and follow him on X here.
Speaking to the Crystal Palace website, Dan discussed the career so far of our latest arrival, Daichi Kamada, as well as the qualities he expects the attacking midfielder to bring to South London…
“He can play a lot of different positions”
“Daichi Kamada is incredibly talented. He is one of those players who can play in a lot of different positions, from halfway up the pitch all the way to being a forward.
“But his skillset in terms of being a playmaker is where he really excels, not just in terms of being a strong dribbler or a great passer, but his ability to read the game – to not just expect the pass, but to know where he's going to put the ball next and to set up his teammates.
“On his best days, and we certainly saw a lot of those days when he was at Frankfurt, he's an incredible player and when he's in a system that suits his abilities, he can do really well.”
“He wanted to go pro as soon as possible”
“In the J-League, I think it’s not always easy to stand out as a young player, but increasingly you’re seeing players who are in the national team picture, and touted to go to Europe, and a lot of those players are increasingly going to university and then going pro.
“Kamada was very proactive in terms of wanting to go pro as soon as he could out of high school. He’s been quoted in local interviews as saying: ‘I didn’t want to go to university and then start my pro career at 22,’ which is really indicative of his aspirations.
“He was always motivated and I think that when he did go overseas, he was one of those players who you always knew it was not ‘if’, but ‘when’. In the J-League, at his age, to be performing at the level that he was at, and because of Sagan Tosu’s struggles, he stood out for them.”
“The potential was there”
“I think that one season on loan in Belgium in particular was good for him. He joined Sint-Truiden, which is in many ways a launching pad for Japanese players – it’s a club owned by DMM, which is a big entertainment company in Japan, so it’s become a first step for a lot of Japanese players in Europe, like Takehiro Tomiyasu at Arsenal.
“Playing in an environment like that was really helpful to help Kamada adjust. It’s still a difficult league and an environment that challenged him, but he scored 15 goals that first season, so you saw that the potential was there. Then, once he fully moved to Frankfurt and started playing there regularly, he just fit in really smoothly.
“Having Makoto Hasebe, one of the greatest players to have represented Japan in history, as a teammate at Frankfurt was super influential,. Having that veteran presence to serve as a mentor, to offer advice and help him adjust to the challenges of living overseas, was helpful.
“It can be a very isolating experience, so I think that the fact that Kamada was able to adjust so quickly to the Bundesliga is reflective of his character and his determination.”
“He flourished under Glasner”
“I think that the way that Frankfurt played was a good fit for him.
“I think especially under Glasner in Germany, you did see that his defensive contributions went up. He went from being more of an attacking midfielder to someone who contributed to a lot of recoveries – I think the number of recoveries he made per game doubled per 90 minutes.
“Really, he flourished at Frankfurt. We saw dimensions of his game that we hadn’t necessarily seen in the J-League.”
“This is a chance for him to re-emerge for Japan”
“His form after the Lazio move did drop a little and he had some injury issues, but when Igor Tudor took over in March, we did see more consistent performances from Kamada in the last few months of the season.
“He’s got back into the national team picture. He was called up again in June and played both games. He got an assist against Myanmar. Going into this next World Cup qualifying group, it’s going to be a very difficult group for Japan against Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China and Indonesia. The top two automatically qualify.
“I think that the national team staff are going to be looking at how he performs in the Premier League because I think that they want Japan’s best players in that squad. It’s not going to be an easy group to qualify from, and this is really Kamada’s chance to re-emerge in a big way for Japan, I think.”
“Communication will be important”
“Kamada is a player who should be able to perform for Palace from day one, but at the same time, the Premier League is such a radically different level of play from almost every other league in the world, so there may be an adjustment period.
“But I do think that given Kamada’s ambition, given his determination, and given the environments that he’s played in, given his relationship with the coach, I see no reason that he won’t have a relatively smooth adjustment period.
“I think that you just have to get him the ball. He’s not a ‘get him the ball and he’ll score’ player, but he’s a ‘get him the ball and give him an open teammate’. If he sees you, he will get the ball to you. He’s just that sort of player.
“Communication on and off the pitch is going to be important, and I think as long as the team is dedicated to making that happen, the results should come along with it.”
“Japanese players play for the badge”
“Japanese players like Kamada play for the badge. When you’re getting a Japanese player, you’re not getting someone who’s in it for the paycheque – you’re getting someone who, when he holds up the scarf, when he puts on the kit, is going to do it for the team.
“I think we’ve seen that determination in Kamada at Frankfurt. We’ve seen him give his best under maybe not the most ideal circumstances at Lazio. We saw it as a teenager at Sagan Tosu. I think that he’s going to rep Crystal Palace as a club.
“I think the fans are going to take very well to him. If he plays to the potential that we’ve seen him play at before, he’s going to be a hit.”
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Dan Orlowitz and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Crystal Palace.