Takuhiro Nakai (17 years old) no longer wants to be called Pipi, but wants to be known by his first surname, Nakai. The young Japanese talent debuted last Saturday with Castilla in the second friendly that Raúl’s men carried out this preseason. Nakai participated in the second half that the white team played against Leganés, who took the victory in the last minutes of the match. Little by little he is following in the wake of his compatriot Kubo, who is shining at the Tokyo Olympics: adds three goals in four games and the Spanish team will be measured in the quarterfinals tomorrow, Tuesday (1:00 pm).
Nakai joined the ranks of Madrid in 2014 (when he was just 11 years old), after standing out in the ranks of Azul Siga and attending a school of the Madrid team in the Japanese country. Previously, his cheerful and carefree game had attracted attention in some videos on YouTube and on Japanese television. He is a midfielder with good vision and game reading. To his quality is added a more than remarkable ability to dribble and a waste when working for and for the team. All those qualities made Raúl called him to attend the final phase of the Youth League in August 2020, which the madridistas won. Throughout the past campaign he played for the white Youth B. His quality and his performances made Zidane summoned him to train with the first team.
But his beginnings were not easy: he was one of the players indicated by FIFA in the case of minors, but his mother’s testimony was key to avoiding any type of sanction: he arrived in Madrid accompanied by his mother and sister, recently joining another of his brothers. The testimony of his mother was key for the reduction of the sanction to the club for alleged irregularities around the incorporation of minors, since it showed that the boy had always been accompanied since his landing in the Madrid capital. The Guardian newspaper named it one of the best projects for the future, and Goal included him in the NXGN 2021 list as one of the 50 young promises with the most projection in world football. Compared to Iniesta, Nakai doesn’t want to be Pipi anymore. And he hopes to play with Kubo at Madrid …