Gotoku Sakai leaves HSV for Vissel Kobe

HSV defender Gotoku Sakai has today (14th August) completed his move back to Japan, after four years and 124 games for Hamburg. The club granted the former club captain’s wish to move back to his homeland to Vissel Kobe, under the tutelage of former HSV manager Thorsten Fink. Sakai started life in the Hanseatic city in the summer of 2015 and in no time at all established himself as a key player both on and off the pitch. The Japanese international completed most of his games for the club in his favoured right-back berth, but his versatility was also one of his many strengths, meaning that he also filled in on the left-hand side or even in defensive midfield when needed. 

A year after joining the club the then 25-year-old was given the honour of leading the team out as captain, a role which he then passed on to Aaron Hunt for the beginning of the 2018/19 campaign. Sakai had not yet made a competitive appearance for the Rothosen during the 2019/20 season and now says goodbye after four years in Hamburg, with a number of high and low points. Sakai will now rub shoulders with footballing greats Lukas Podolski, Andres Iniesta and David Villa at Kobe, who currently sit in 15th place in the Japanese J1 league. “Gotoku’s behaviour was always exemplary, he is a model professional and will always be a true HSV man,” were Head of Sport Jonas Boldt’s final words to the departing right-back. “We granted his wish to move back home, partly as a sign of our gratitude for the servitude that he showed to the club over his four years here in Hamburg. Go will always be welcome here at HSV and we wish him all the best for the future, both on and off the pitch!”