Borussia Dortmund

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Borussia Dortmund unveil fourth new signing - Shinji Kagawa is "happy to be finally here"

[12.07.] On Monday, Borussia Dortmund unveiled Shinji Kagawa (born 17/03/1989) as their fourth and final new signing for the new season. In front of the media, including a number of TV teams from Japan, Jürgen Klopp handed the shirt with the number 23 to the Japanese player, his "desired number". Kagawa has signed a contract until 2013.

Jürgen Klopp hands the shirt with number 23 to Shinji Kagawa.

The versatile attacking midfielder can play, due to his two-footedness, in almost any offensive position. He joins Borussia Dortmund from Japanese first division Cerezo Osaka for which he scored 55 goals in 125 games. Alone this season, which is currently still under way in Japan, he scored seven goals in 11 matches and set up another. Last season, he won the Golden Boot award as top scorer in the second Japanese division with 27 goals and helped his club win promotion to the first division.

In 2008, Kagawa was also part of the Olympic squad, and in May of the same year he made his debut for the country´s national team. He has won 15 caps (one goal) for Japan so far.

"Totally thrilled by the great fans"
"The first training was very tough. I can´t say yet how long it will take before I get used to the physical game here in Germany.

The new Dortmunder...

…puts on the BVB shirt for the first time.

But I think that I will adapt to it very quickly and also establish myself in the team," said Kagawa about the challenge of making the transition from Japanese to German league football.

And, of course, there´s also the language barrier. "The language is more difficult than I thought. But I approach this thing as if I want to become a German in order to learn the language as quickly as possible." For Jürgen Klopp, this is vital: "The language needs to be learned as quickly as possible. It makes communication with the team-mates on and off the pitch a lot easier and integration into the team a lot faster." Klopp thinks highly of the young Japanese: "Shinji is a quick and agile player. An outstanding talent!"

Taking centre stage: Shinji Kagawa.

The 21-year-old, who arrived in Germany without his family, said he was "happy to be finally here." Last season he watched a BVB game in Dortmund and he was "totally thrilled by the fans." According to Kagawa, his strengths are his attacking abilities, his direct approach to goal and his technical skills. "Now I want to get as much playing time as possible to help the team picking up wins," he said confidently before joining the team for lunch.

In the media focus: Jürgen Klopp with his new player.