Shinji Okazaki was part of the celebration party when Leicester finished their season at home to Blackburn, coming out on the field after the match. Yesterday was his final game of his career as he also got a great guard of honour when leaving the field in the 53rd minute.
Shinji Okazaki joined Leicester from Mainz in the summer of 2015, staying until 2019, with a total of 114 games, scoring 14 goals, one of the the fantastic bicicleta vs. Newcastle, when he together with Leicester team mates lifted the Premier League title.
TCF had total belief in Claudio Ranieri and his set up during that 2015-16 season, but strangely enough decided to drop the fantastic relation build up between Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy, dropping the Japanese on the arrival of Ahmed Musa and Islam Slimani. We all believed N’Golo Kantè was the only reason for the drop in form, but surely the unuse of Shinji Okazaki also led to Ranieri’s dismissal.
Craig Shakespeare took over as interim manager and slotted in Shinji Okazaki again, and the tune was set with some splended football played towards the end of the 2016-17 season.
We were saddened to see that this special relation teared apart and by the time Craig Shakespeare left the club, Shinji had come to a certain age and it was time for some rebuild, but still fantastic to see him out on the grass alongside his old friend and teammate Jamie Vardy, still going strong at the same age.
Shinji Okazaki left Leicester and joined Malaga, but some wage cap problems made this move complicated so he left the club after 34 days, without playing a single game. He then moved to Huesca, stayed there for two years, with a move to Cartagena before he joined the Japanese owned club Sint-Truiden in the Belgium top flight, staying here from 2022 until his final game yesterday.
A bit of a special to have OH Leuven on the other side, playing his last game in a career that looks to go on in football as the 38 year old looks to a new start in coaching and possibly football management. He surely does have the career as a player to build on, having played the game on so many levels of different experiences. His impressive tally of caps for Japan, 119 in total, as well as having played in Germany, Spain, Belgium and England.
We wish Shinji Okazaki all the best on his next chapter in football as we believe he can and will return to duties on the sideline in the future.
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