Tottenham have secured a deal to sign Japanese sensation Kota Takai from J-League outfit Kawasaki Frontale for £5m [$6.7m] as per reports from Sponichi Soccer via Fabrizio Romano.
Despite not knowing too much about the 20-year-old, Tottenham fans are excited about the young defender taking his first steps in European football, as part of Thomas Frank’s ambitious plans.
Kawasaki Frontale announced their young defender will move on from the club on July 5 to complete the final details required to join overseas club.
Spurs have snapped up Takai at a time when their current defensive stalwart Cristian Romero is being linked with a move out of North London.
Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone have publicly shown interest in Romero, but Frank is keen to hold onto one of the best players on his roster, and h could offer the Argentina the captaincy of Son Heung-min.
Romero was the Man of the Tournament last season at the Europa League, which Spurs won, defeating Man United in the final.
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Amid the uncertainty, Frank is confident Takai will continue to develop, ahead of joining up with his new team on their preseason tour of Hong Kong and South Korea in July.
What Kota Takai brings to Tottenham
Hailing from Yokohama, Takai began his youth career at River FC before moving to Kawasaki Frontale in 2011. He broke into the first team in 2022, and since then, he hasn’t looked back.
🇯🇵 Kota Takai is the only U23 centreback in the world to rank in the 80th percentile for passes completed, forward pass %, defensive actions, and aerial duel %
🎖️ 91st percentile for forward pass accuracy
🎖️ 87th percentile for aerial duels won %
🎖️ 84th percentile for passes… pic.twitter.com/GQpXXGhwd1— DataMB (@DataMB_) June 27, 2025
He was voted as the 2024 J-League Young Player of the Year and also won the 2024 U23 AFC Asian Cup with Japan.
Takai also won the 2024 Japanese Super Cup and the 2023 Emperor’s Cup. He also guided his club to the AFC Champions League Elite final last season, where they were beaten by Al-Ahli.
He’s played 19 out of the 20 J1 League games this season, scoring a couple of goals.
His deeper numbers shows him winning 59% of his duels since the start of the 2024 J1 League, slightly more than the league average. His towering presence helped him register a 62.1% aerial duel success rate, again higher than the J1 League average.
As per Opta, Takai has clocked 88% passing accuracy and averaged 5.9 progressive carries per 90 minutes.
The statistics speak for his talent and capabilities on the pitch as Opta feel he has similar traits to Real Madrid’s new star Dean Huijsen.
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