West Ham Opinion: Why the Hammers should avoid signing Shinji Kagawa?

According to a report from Turkish news outlet Ahaber, West Ham are one of the clubs interested in signing Borussia Dortmund playmaker Shinji Kagawa, who is currently on loan at Besiktas.

The Japanese, 30, joined Besiktas in the January transfer window after failing to find regular opportunities at Dortmund. And in just a couple of months he has become a favourite at Vodafone Park, scoring three goals and assisting one in six Super Lig games.

But the report claims Dortmund are ready to listen offers for Shinji Kagawa at the end of the season and value him at£10.5 million, which Besiktas find impossible to pay. That being said, should West Ham make a move for the 30-year-old attacker?

West Ham have an array of attacking talent in their squad, with the likes of Manuel Lanzini, Felipe Anderson, Samir Nasri, Marko Arnautovic, Robert Snodgrass and Michail Antonio all fighting for places in Manuel Pellegrini’s starting XI.

Above all, Andriy Yarmolenko is likely to be available for the start of the 2019/20 campaign after an Achilles injury ruined his debut season at the London Stadium. Given the Hammers’ attacking riches, it’s baffling to see the club interested in signing Kagawa.

The Japanese international, for all his ability and talent, has slowed down in the last couple of years. He was a bright talent at Dortmund when Manchester United signed him in 2012 but after winning the title in Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season at Old Trafford, the playmaker quickly fell out of favour once David Moyes took over.

It ended on a disappointing note for Kagawa as he returned back to Dortmund in the summer of 2014. But he failed to recapture his old form at Signal Iduna Park and was farmed out on loan in January.

Even if the attacker has scored few goals since arriving at Besiktas, the matter of fact is the Turkish Lig is miles behind when it comes to comparing with the Premier League.

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With all due respect to Kagawa’s qualities, it is pretty easy to say that he’ll struggle to find regular game time at West Ham. In other words, Pellegrini will have to offload a couple of his attackers to accommodate the Japanese in his team, which he shouldn’t do at any case. There are a lot of options at the club and Pellegrini should stick with them.

Verdict

Kagawa is no longer the player he once was and has entered his 30s as well. That makes it a no-brainer for West Ham to avoid spending the cash on the Japanese; instead, Pellegrini should be thinking about improving other areas of his team in the summer to aim for a top-six finish next season.