Japan star Keisuke Honda has confirmed he is leaving Melbourne Victory.
Keisuke Honda has confirmed his Melbourne Victory exit, making Wednesday night’s Asian Champions League clash with Sanfrecce Hiroshima a triple goodbye for the club.
Coach and club legend Kevin Muscat, captain Carl Valeri and now Honda will all feature for the final time for the A-League powerhouse club in the dead-rubber match at AAMI Park.
The Japanese superstar, who was signed with the help of marquee funds from FFA, had previously flagged his intention to leave after just one season with Victory but club officials had been hopeful of changing his mind.
r0bsta
Roar Rookie
Was discussing this at the game on Weds - my own thoughts are that he's not at the level where he can lock down his last few years in a top league, so is looking for a couple of decent contracts that let him see a bit of the world. Can't really blame him there.
r0bsta
Roar Rookie
Depends how you measure it - Cahill had a bigger impact getting people in Australia interested in A-League as arguably Australia's most famous player, but in Japan Honda is a legitimate superstar. When the Honda MVFC shirt was released in Japan, in was one of the most sought after shirts. Cahill has clearly not had an ongoing effect on City's crowd numbers, it remains to be seen if any new (esp Japanese fans or followers) stick around next year.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I am commenting about Honda's commercial value to the A-league and him going freeing up all that money for the FFA fund not his playing value. Honda has played well but is he worth over a million a year, there are better value players but there are also worse , he is much better than a really old genuine marquee on the field
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Very harsh on Brainstrust and Harry.
Nemesis
Guest
First 3 posts are from 3 posers who don't follow Melbourne Victory, nor do they watch ALeague, offering their thoughts on a Melbourne Victory player. A perfect snapshot of The Roar forum.
Harry Selassie
Roar Rookie
Honda has become very peripatetic since leaving AC Milan- 1 year with Pachuca in Mexico, another season with Melbourne Victory. What's next on the Keisuke Honda retirement tour?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Very lucky that he is going, his marquee value was pretty small yet the FFA paid 6 times what they paid to supplement Del Piero. In Japan Honda has heaps of maquee value just not here. The A-league should do everything they can to bring Bolt back, just to get the ratings. Not that Bolt would bring a lot of subsctibers to Foxtel just ratings. Where Foxtel are going to go down is with AFL and cricket. They have little exclusivity and are just paying massive amounts to get very few subcscribers. Unless Foxtel can get all the cricket and stop showing almost every local teams AFL matches within each state they will go broke.
anon
Roar Pro
Another kick in the teeth for the A-League. It's starting to feel like the NSL around 2000. Foxtel pulling out of the next rights bid will be the knockout blow.