Everything started from a pamphlet. On it wrote: “The MVP of this tournament will get a chance to play with Barcelona.” Barcelona. That one word was all it needed for Takefusa Kubo to submit his application.

True to his ability, Kubo’s performance at the tournament won him the MVP and the opportunity to realise his dreams at La Masia, the famed youth academy of FC Barcelona. At only 10 years of age, the gutsy kid crossed the continent to begin his challenge in faraway Spain.

“I wasn’t scared. I was given the chance to play football and that meant everything to me.”

But Kubo’s progression was unceremoniously halted when Barcelona were found to be in violation of FIFA’s international transfer policy for under-18 players. Just then, his goal of getting promoted into the first team had to be shelved.

“I saw my teammates winning, and I wasn’t happy that I have to let that go.”

Together with many of his teammates, Kubo had to leave La Masia, with the exception of American Ben Lederman who opted for Polish citizenship in order to stay. But Barca recognised Kubo’s rare talents and continued to keep tabs on his growth when he returned to Japan to join FC Tokyo. What the club had in mind was to wait for Kubo to turn 18 and then bring him back.

But Barca were not the only club with a vested interest in Kubo’s talent. Paris Saint-Germain and eternal rival Real Madrid were starting to knock on his door. And when there are competitions, market forces dictate and a player’s demands logically and inadvertently go up. The same held true for Kubo, which led to a difficult negotiation process with Barca.

“We asked for 1 million euros a year and promotion to the first team in the second year.”

According to an official from the sports department, Barca capped his annual salary at 250,000 euros and could not guaranteed him a spot in the first team.

“Kubo is a non-EU player. Right now, we have already filled our three-player quota with Arthur, Malcom and Arturo Vidal. Madrid are also in the same situation,” the official said. “No one knows what will happen in the future. We didn’t want to be tied to what could be a high-risk loan.”

Unlike Barca, Madrid were able to accept Kubo’s demands and ultimately won over “the great treasure of Japan” with an offer of 2 millions euros for 5 years. It is said that there is a clause in his contract which requires his presence in the club’s preseason tour this summer.

A player who shares similar arrangement springs to mind: Martin Odegaard. The Norwegian prodigy joined Madrid in 2015 and started with the Castilla side. He went on to make his first team debut in May that year, before beginning his life as a loanee. Since his single league appearance as a Los Blancos, he has been out on loan for the past two and a half years at Dutch sides Heerenveen and Vitesse.

Another recent example is Vinicius Junior, who joined Madrid with much fanfare last summer and got his big break in his first year. His Brazilian compatriot Rodrygo will follow after his footstep this summer.

What kind of future will Kubo draw up? We will find out in the second chapter of his Spain challenge.

For Japanese football news: CoolJapan Soccer

Source: Yahoo

Image: gettyimages