The Japanese playmaker exceeded all expectations in his first term at BVB, but has since seen his form plunge. Goal.com investigates his sharp change in fortune

DORTMUND IN 2010-11 BUNDESLIGA

RECORD WITH KAGAWA

GAMES PLAYED

GAMES WON

GAMES DRAWN

GAMES LOST

GOALS SCORED

17

14

1

2

39

RECORD WITHOUT KAGAWA*

GAMES PLAYED

GAMES WON

GAMES DRAWN

GAMES LOST

GOALS SCORED 17

9

5

3

28

*Includes 3-minute outing in round 34

SHINJI KAGAWA

PLAYMAKER | BORUSSIA DORTMUND





2011-12 SEASON CLUB STATS Appearances

12

Goals

2

Assists

1

2011-12 SEASON INTERNATIONAL STATS Appearances

5

Goals 4

Assists

0



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By Clark Whitney | German Football EditorJust over 13 months ago, Shinji Kagawa emerged as one of the great prospects in European football. The playmaker, who plied his trade in the Japanese second division until the summer of 2010, burst onto the scene at Borussia Dortmund as he scored a brace in the derby against arch-rivals Schalke. Full of confidence, he predicted before the match that he would score twice. Kagawa’s delivery on that promise earned him a reputation as a big-game player.Fast-forwarding to the present, it appears that that assessment was made too early. Through three Champions League matches, Kagawa has barely made any impact as Dortmund have earned just one point from a possible nine. Even in the Bundesliga, in which BVB’s performance has been much more respectable, he has just one goal in his first seven games.Kagawa’s slump in form has come as a surprise to those who followed the Bundesliga during the first round of the 2010-11 season: then he scored eight goals and was regarded by many as Germany’s best player before suffering a metatarsal fracture in January that kept him out of all but a few minutes of the spring campaign. Dortmund’s good but less-than-stunning run in the second half of the season seemed to affirm his value in their squad. But since August, the central playmaker's form has slumped along with that of the team as a whole.In his native Japan, Kagawa is still beloved by football enthusiasts, and has a fanbase comparable even with that of Keisuke Honda. He was a stand-out star for the national team in their 3-0 win over South Korea in August, and scored a brace against Tajikistan earlier this month. The Japanese press have nonetheless been critical of the player who wears the No. 10 shirt for the Samurai Blue as his slump at club level has cause for more than a little concern.It has often been speculated in Japan that Kagawa is suffering from fatigue, and there is plenty of reason to believe that he is more weary than his team-mates. Since the beginning of the Bundesliga season, Kagawa has made three trips to and from Japan, a combined 55,000km of travel. Each way, the journey requires re-adjustment to a seven-hour time zone difference. Jurgen Klopp employs a very intense, athletically demanding system at Dortmund, requiring the playmaker to cover at least 12km per 90 minutes. And while Kagawa has proven to be physically capable, perhaps mental fatigue is causing him to miss the last bit of sharpness required to create the goals that are expected from his position.Additionally, Kagawa still requires an interpreter in order to communicate with team-mates. His tardiness in learning German, as evident in his reluctance to speak with anyone other than the 10 Japanese journalists who frequent the Signal Iduna Park, suggests that even a year into his stay in Germany, he is struggling to settle.Currently, Klopp faces an unexpected quandary in the centre of his team. To add to the poor form of centre-back Neven Subotic and uncertainty in defensive midfield, the centre of his attack includes a playmaker who neither scores nor assists, and a centre forward in Robert Lewandowski, who cannot hold up the ball. The coach has, on occasion, used Mario Gotze in his natural, central playmaking position in place of Kagawa, to varying effect. The Germany international has proven a greater danger than the former Cerezo Osaka man, although no replacement for Kagawa has shone on the wing. There is now a race for form between Kagawa, wingers Ivan Perisic, Kevin Grosskreutz and Jakub Blaszczykowski, and striker Lucas Barrios, each of whom could keep the others out of Klopp’s starting line-up.Having had such little previous experience on a high level and only a few months of consistent form last season, there are questions over whether Kagawa's performance this year might be more indicative of his class than that of the last. To his credit, the Tarumi-ku native has once before proven his ability against the odds. But now he has more competition, and Klopp’s decreasing confidence to worry about. Kagawa is still first choice, but has to find his form and fast: his window of opportunity is closing.