4 Jan 2008(Fri)

January 2, 2008: After the Antlers-Sanfrecce final on New Year's Day, a lot of the talk surrounded a player who wasn't even playing. Such is the stature of one of Japan's most exciting prospects, Yosuke Kashiwagi.

With relegation to J2, should Kashiwagi stay with Sanfrecce or accept a lucrative offer and move on? Kashiwa Reysol want him, and surely others, too.

Would his chances of progress in the Olympic team and national team in 2008 be damaged if he played in J2?

Naturally, the Three Arrows are hoping he will stay, as Kashiwagi is not only important on the field but off it with his marketability.

After the final, which Sanfrecce lost 2-0 without the suspended Kashiwagi, I had a chat with the club's managing director, Toyoharu Takata.

His view was that Kashiwagi should stay and play a full season in J2 -- 42 matches next season in the expanded 15-team division -- so that his game becomes more consistent.

"He is still very young so naturally his performance can be up and down," Takata said of the left-footed midfield wizard, who turned 20 on December 15.

"If he stayed with Sanfrecce I am sure he could close that gap over the course of next season so that his performance level is more constant."

There is logic and pragmatism in Takata's stance, and evidence that a season in J2 is not necessarily a backward step.

Just ask Gert Engels, the former Kyoto manager and now No. 2 at Reds, how much Park Ji-Sung improved during his season in J2 with Purple Sanga. The heavy schedule exposed the young Korean to competitive match situations on a Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday basis almost every week, Engels says, and gave him an edge that training could never do. PSV Eindhoven and Manchester United would agree.

The situation for another Hiroshima hot property, wing-back Yuichi Komano, is different to Kashiwagi's, as he is already established in the national team. Vissel Kobe are keen to take him.

Takata, however, insists that national team coach Takeshi Okada has made it clear he would still pick Komano, and others, if they were playing in J2.

It's been a long fight for Sanfrecce in 2007 -- and they are still scrapping to keep their top players for J2. How many of these contests can they win?

A 1-1 draw looks a good bet.

ends