I read an interesting article over at the Kicker Magazin website yesterday about the transfer of Urawa Reds midfielder Makoto Hasebe to German Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg. Hasebe has been a lynchpin of the Urawa side for the past two seasons, but with his contract having expired, the 23-year-old has decided to try his luck in Europe.

According to Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath, Hasebe has been on the club's radar for some two years now. Magath claimed that the club's scouts had been interested in Hasebe since early 2006. But I wonder.

Certainly Hasebe did well enough to attract the attention of at least one European club, with Serie A strugglers Siena widely linked with the out-of-contract Reds star towards the end of 2007. Their interest came to naught though, with the Tuscans instead signing Brazilian goalkeeper Artur Moraes and soon-to-be Socceroo striker Richard Porta during the January transfer window.

That Hasebe chose to sign for a Bundesliga side comes as no surprise, given that his former coach at Urawa is none-other-than 1990 World Cup winner Guido Buchwald. Indeed, Hasebe's best season with Urawa came when the Reds lifted the J-League title under Buchwald in 2006. Yet I can't help but feel that the decision to sign Hasebe is as much an attempt to lift Wolfsburg's global profile, as it is one designed to strengthen their midfield.

Coach Magath has claimed that he envisages Hasebe to be a defensive midfielder in a two-man shield in front of the back four. Yet Wolfsburg already have two defensive midfielders in the form of Christian Gentner and Brazilian international Josué. The highly experienced Guinean Pablo Thiam is also standing in Hasebe's way.

Should Hasebe wish to break into the Wolfsburg starting eleven, then he'll invariably need to work on his physical strength. The 1.77 metre-midfielder was repeatedly knocked off the ball when Urawa came up against Milan in the recent FIFA Club World Cup, and he'll no longer have the intuitive Keita Suzuki by his side to clean up his mistakes. Indeed it's a wonder that no European clubs have made a more concerted effort to sign Suzuki, given that he's so clearly the most influential player in the Urawa line-up.

Of course pre-judging Hasebe's European career before a ball has even been kicked is hardly fair. It's just that history is not on his side. Of the Japanese players who have gone before him, only the exceptional Shunsuke Nakamura has shone in European football. Naohiro Takahara scored eleven league goals for Eintracht Frankfurt last season, only to up-and-leave for Urawa as soon as Frankfurt brought in some competition up front.

Mitsuo Ogasawara is perhaps a better example. He played over 200 games for Kashima Antlers, yet played just six times while on loan at Italian club Messina. He then returned to Kashima midway through the 2007 J-League season and promptly fired the Ibaraki club to the J-League title.

To suggest that Hasebe won't be the only foreign player at Wolfsburg would be an understatement, given that he becomes the SIXTEENTH different nationality at the club this season. But he'll need to adjust to the language and the food quick-smart. He'll also have to adjust from playing in a side that is perennially challenging for the league title, to one that is conceivably battling against relegation this season.

Perhaps the 2008-09 season is a more realistic timeline for Hasebe to break in to the Wolfsburg team. By then Christian Gentner could possibly return to VfB Stuttgart - who loaned him to Wolfsburg, while Pablo Thiam's contract is set to expire. Wolfburg's financial position will also play a role, given that the club spent a whopping 30 million euros on players last summer, and are so far yet to see any tangible returns. Wolfsburg won't be in Europe next season, but at the very least, Makoto Hasebe will hope to be.