Following his arrival from Hannover 96 to Marseille on a free transfer, Hiroki Sakai took some time to adapt to French football.
The Japanese right-back struggled at first, yet he has gradually become one of the key elements of Rudi Garcia’s plans, and his absence tends to be noted when he doesn’t feature.
However, things could have been very different for him, as he could have signed for Celtic.
In need of a right-back for his squad during the summer of 2016, Brendan Rodgers ended up plumping on West Brom’s Cristian Gamboa in August, yet his first choice appears to have been Hiroki Sakai.
In short, it was his national team manager, Vahid Halilhodzic: “I had three offers (Ajax, Celtic and Marseille). He told me OM was a good club, but it was hard to impose yourself there. Since that’s what I wanted, I chose to come here. I think he’s happy that I’m in France.”
Currently using James Forrest, Mikael Lustig, Callum McGregor or Anthony Ralston down the right depending on the opponent and the formation, and only sporadically picking Gamboa during their undefeated campaign, you can see why Rodgers might have wanted someone like Sakai.
The Japan international has started all but two of Marseille’s games this season under Rudi Garcia, picking up one assist in their latest win over Amiens at the weekend, setting up Clinton N’Jié.
