If they go back with Nakata next year it will be more like 50,000." Turning Japanese: How the rising sons have sunk in England Hidetoshi Nakata will become the fifth Japanese international to play in England, all of whom were in the team which reached the knock-out stages of the 2002 World Cup The other four have all failed to make an impact. Shunsuke Nakamura became the first Japanese player in the Scottish Premier League when he joined Celtic this month.Junichi Inamoto (Arsenal, Fulham, West Bromwich and Cardiff)Loaned to Arsenal in summer 2001 but failed to make a Premiership appearance. The Premier League will be the most popular now and Bolton will be very popular too. This summer they played in Japan in front of only 5,000 or 6,000 people. "Serie A was always the most popular European league in Japan, but that has been changing over the last few years and now that Nakata has moved it will change completely. We have improved in terms of human beings and facilities and every one of our internationals is thriving for their country.
We have brought him in on loan, but if he plays 30 games this season and has a good run in the Uefa Cup we will make it permanent."Nakata's age and experience suggest he has the pedigree to become another of Allardyce's restored masterpieces though, even if it contradicts the over-riding principle of his arrival, Bolton may like to consider opening a Tokyo superstore."Every Bolton game will be on Japanese TV now," says Masatoshi Mori. There is a risk in any transfer, whether it is from another country or another league, but I am sure Hide will be the same. As a website post from one admirer in the US revealed: "He will carve into those wimpy English midfielders and into those fine English ladies!" Quite.But if it is enjoyment he wants, Bolton aim to provide it, although it reveals all about their methods that the locals appear somewhat blas?bout the arrival on a free transfer of a player who has cost almost £40m throughout his career.Allardyce insists: "I will have been here six years in October and in that time we have built this football club into a place that enjoys itself Football is an industry, but it is there to be enjoyed. "He is still our biggest star and the spirit of the national team," said Masatoshi Mori of the sports daily Hochi Shimbun. "He is a private person, but he is not afraid to say what he thinks and that is unusual for Japanese people We don't usually say what we think, we obey. But Hide has a strong personality, he is a brave person, and he represents the new generation."Upwardly mobile too, if five Serie A clubs in seven seasons - Perugia, Roma, Parma, Bologna (on loan) and Fiorentina - are an accurate barometer of a character who keeps Japanese gossip columns busy with a private life that included a dalliance with the actress Mila Jovovich.
The former Japan national team coach Philippe Troussier was always at odds with his most celebrated player, not only through a clash of styles, with Troussier allegedly demanding no other international should follow Nakata's dress sense, but inevitably once Nakata had walked out on the 2001 Confederations Cup Final against France in order to take part in Roma's successful title run-in.Such acts add to the mystique of Nakata in Japan, whom he inspired to a first appearance in a World Cup Finals in 1998 In the eyes of many youth, he can do no wrong. One was the £20m capture of Hidetoshi Nakata from Roma - a transfer record unlikely to be broken following the ruin of Parmalat - and the other sanctioned the immediate sale of 10,000 blue and yellow jerseys bearing his name on the streets of Japan. Even with an exclusive deal to broadcast their matches live in the Far East, Parma never prospered with Nakata, on or off the field, despite an obvious marketing strategy. Unaware of the impending financial crisis at the cheese company that bankrolled their extraordinary rise in Italian football, Parma secured two deals, within the space of 24 hours in July 2001 to cement their place among the nouveau riche of Serie A. Wright-Phillips pulled out of tonight's England friendly against Denmark with a swollen knee joint but his withdrawal was a precautionary measure and he should be given the green light to face the Gunners.. I don't want an identical situation at Chelsea." It was not all doom and gloom at Stamford Bridge today, however, with the news Shaun Wright-Phillips will be fit for Sunday's showdown against Arsenal sure to lighten Mourinho's mood. But this not his first run-in with Mourinho - the two did not always see eye-to-eye at Porto - and he is anxious their relationship should not deteriorate once again.