Daichi Kamada

Eintracht and Japanese footballers go back a long way. Naohiro Takahara and Junichi Inamoto both wore the shirt, as did Takashi Inui and, of course, Makoto Hasebe. Since 2017, the Eagles have been able to add Daichi Kamada to that list. Board member Fredi Bobic identified "great potential" in him, saying that Kamada would provide extra options in the middle of the park. 

Kamada is an attacking midfielder who can also operate as a forward. He reads the game well and can pick out a colleague with accurate passes – in short, he is a born playmaker. After not getting the playing time he was hoping for in his first year at SGE, he moved to Belgian top-flight club VV St. Truiden for the 2018/19 season and soon established himself there as a first-team regular.

His outstanding skills were allowed to blossom at St. Truiden in a free-roaming role behind the attackers. He made a total of 36 appearances, registering 16 goals and nine assists, even though things calmed down on that front after the winter break, having already recorded 11 goals before 2018 was out. The team ended up just two points short of finishing the season in sixth spot, which would have booked them a place in the championship play-off. Seventh place saw them into the play-offs for the final Europa League berth, but despite only one defeat in ten matches, St. Truiden again came up just short. Kamada had well and truly emerged by this point and played the full 90 minutes in every match, acquiring plenty of invaluable experience in a European top flight.

It was no surprise, therefore, to see the Japanese No.10 return to Eintracht in the summer of 2019 improved, full of confidence and ready to seize his chance. Head coach Adi Hütter has already stated that Kamada is creating far more of an impression than the previous year, adding: "Daichi Kamada has meant that we have been able to create a position that we had no equivalent of last season."