Archive: Shinji Kagawa's Rooney Conundrum

Kagawa in his first spell at Borussia Dortmund

Shinji Kagawa’s role at Manchester United remains unclear. The club’s retention of Wayne Rooney this summer has widely been described as the most important bit of business conducted in David Moyes’ short period in charge. However, the Japanese international may be the one figure at Old Trafford who would have seen a potential departure for Rooney in a different light.

Keeping the best players is always as important as investing in new talent; the Arsenal fan’s response to the sales of Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie in the last few years prove this. Therefore keeping Wayne Rooney, and at the same time ensuring that Chelsea were unable to significantly improve their squad, is generally accepted as a victory for David Moyes in an otherwise turbulent first summer in charge at the Theatre of Dreams.

You only have to look back as far as October 2010 to see the potential unrest within a side that is seen to be stagnating or declining after the sale of a key player. On that occasion it was Rooney himself who stated a ‘lack of ambition’ when indicating that he would not sign a new contract, the season after United had sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. On that occasion, whether Rooney finally received the assurances he requested or not, a new contract was eventually signed.

Fast forward to 2013, with Rooney in dispute with outgoing manager Sir Alex Ferguson and later incoming manager Moyes, Chelsea signalled their intent to sign the ‘angered and confused’ player. However, Moyes continued to rebuff suggestions that the Liverpudlian would be leaving, and as the window closed and Rooney remained in red, positive messages began to pour from the club with encouraging words regarding the retention of the player and his role within the team.

However, one man who may not be so enamoured with United keeping Rooney is Shinji Kagawa. The Japanese international has cut a frustrated figure for much of his first year in Manchester, and during a first season curtailed by form and fitness issues, Kagawa also found himself in unfamiliar roles when selected. His second season at Old Trafford, under a new manager, could be seen to be another opportunity to establish himself in the side, but with Rooney remaining a key player, Kagawa may find himself marginalised once more.

During the 2011/12 season, Kagawa’s performances for Borussia Dortmund caught the eye of an international audience, and saw him voted the inaugural Bundesliga Football Player of the Year, and he was included in the league’s team of the year. Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp was at pains to attribute his considerable success to his central position, a key role he has not yet been afforded at United.

With 13 goals and 8 assists from his 31 Dortmund appearances in 2011/12, Kagawa’s importance to that team is clear, and the advanced role there saw him create 134 chances for teammates, whilst completing 55 key passes in the final third. Much of Kagawa’s frustration at United stems from the lack of responsibility afforded to him, and his selection on the left hand side. The statistics from his first season at Old Trafford show him taking a back seat to Rooney, the man denying him his preferred central position.

In his first season in Manchester, Kagawa was only able to complete an average of one key pass for each of his 20 matches, and only created 19 chances, making him a shadow of the creative force that terrorised Bundesliga defences the year before. Most revealingly though, Kagawa was only able to provide 3 assists during the 2012/13 season, a figure dwarfed by Wayne Rooney’s 10. The only statistical area of Kagawa’s game to see an improvement after his move to United is his percentage of completed passes, which rose from 83% to more than 89%, but this reflects his deeper role in the side and the back seat he has had to take to Rooney.

Having managed to retain Rooney’s services, David Moyes appears set to continue the trend of playing Rooney as the deeper of two forwards, in a ‘number 10’ role, and this means using Kagawa sparingly. During United’s recent Champions League fixture against Bayer Leverkusen the relative roles of Rooney and Kagawa were typified. Rooney shone in a central role, whilst Kagawa, selected on the left hand side, continued to drift inside as he struggled to impact the game from wide areas. It is this turn of events, and the impact on the Japanese international’s form and role, that may see him as the one man not to see Manchester United’s keeping of Rooney as a positive. 

This article was written for Sports Gazette in October 2013.