Being dubbed "bigger than Beckham" left Junichi Inamoto with expectations bigger than he could match in the Premier League.
The former Japan midfielder, who made 82 appearances for his country on the international stage, arrived on English shores as a 21-year-old when Arsenal signed him on a season-long loan from J-League side Gamba Osaka for the 2001/02 season.
His unveiling at the Gunners' London Colney training ground attracted more reporters than those of Thierry Henry and Sol Campbell, with the Far East sensation carrying the hopes of his nation on his shoulders.
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His bleached blond hair and off-the-pitch appeal earned him comparisons to Manchester United and England legend David Beckham – with one journalist summing up just how popular he was back home.
"Think David Beckham, then double it," said Shinsuke Kobayashi, then-England correspondent for newspaper Kyodo. "Junichi is huge. People want to know everything about Junichi. Whatever he does and wherever he goes, Kyodo follows it."
Do you remember anything of Inamoto's time in England? Let us know in the comments section.
Unfortunately for the Japanese press, they had little to follow over the next 12 months – as Inamoto was afforded just 149 minutes of first-team football by Arsene Wenger, with none of that in the league.
It didn't impact his spot in the national team, though, and he went on to score twice in the 2002 World Cup as Japan reached the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
Arsenal had let him go shortly before the tournament begun, with Wenger explaining to their in-house media: "He missed something.
"He had the basic quality but he missed something in the physical aspect, stamina, to be a box-to-box, up-and-down midfielder in the Premier League.
"Also at that time he lacked a little bit of belief in his qualities, because he was a very good footballer, Inamoto, but he was still in a period when the Japanese players didn't feel they were at the level of the rest of the world."
London rivals Fulham took a chance on him and he spent two years at Craven Cottage, being best remembered for scoring four goals over the two legs of their Intertoto Cup final against Bologna, including a hat-trick. They didn't extend his stay in the capital after he suffered an injury in a friendly against England.
Inamoto instead joined West Brom on a permanent deal. During his time at the Hawthorns he admitted he hadn't toppled Beckham's celebrity – joking he would need his own Spice Girl wife like Victoria.
"Can I be bigger than Beckham? Yes, but West Brom would have to win the Premiership and Japan win the World Cup," he told reporters. "Also I would need a pop star wife. I don't have one, but I hope I can one day, just like Beckham.
"In Japan a lot of people notice me, but Beckham does a lot of commercials and his wife is very famous. West Brom is not so well known, although there is more interest there now because of the connection with me.''
Despite retiring from international football after the 2010 World Cup, Inamoto was still playing in the lower leagues of Japanese football until recently. He celebrated his 44th birthday on Monday (September 18).
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