10 Nov 2003(Mon)

Hands up all those J.League fans who thought that Tokyo Verdy 1969 were taking a big risk in signing Patrick Mboma.

Yes, my hand is up, too.

I have to admit I was a bit surprised when I heard that Mboma was returning to Japan at the start of this season.

After all, he hadn't played much in recent seasons, for Parma and then briefly for Sunderland, and I wondered if, at 32 years of age, he could still do a job for Verdy over the entire campaign.

But Verdy and Mboma have proved the doubters, including me, wrong.

As we enter the 12th round of second stage matches this weekend, Verdy lead the table with 20 points from 11 games, and Mboma is the club's leading scorer with 13 goals in 19 appearances. This puts him in sixth place on the scorers chart, only four behind Jubilo's Rodrigo Gral, who has netted 17 in significantly more games, 25.

Although the Cameroon star will not match his 1997 total of 25 in 28 games for Gamba Osaka, Mboma can still feel satisfied with his output.

But Verdy, of course, didn't sign him just for his goals.

They needed an experienced and inspirational leader to replace Edmundo, who did such a great job in the Verdy green.

Watching the Verdy training at Yomiuri Land on Friday morning, it's easy to see why Mboma is so important to the Verdy cause.

He lives and breathes football, and this must be infectious to his teammates who have not grown up in the same football culture.

Even in a practice match on a pitch one quarter the size of a normal field, Mboma's joy at scoring a goal was there for all to see.

After the magical sight and sound of ball hitting net, Mboma would either run away, right arm in the air, as if he'd scored in the World Cup, or pretend to punch the ground in delight.

Both forms of celebration were amusing to watch, as it reveals the sheer enjoyment of playing football and of scoring goals.

I didn't think Mboma had the match fitness to endure the whole season, and while it's true he has missed a few games, he has proved to be an excellent signing not just for the club but also for the J.League in general.

On Sunday, Patrick will represent the club at an Edo Period celebration at Tachikawa from noon to 1pm, and in the evening he will fly to France to take part in a benefit match for the family of his late teammate, Marc-Vivien Foe, at Lyon on Tuesday.

ends