Daichi Kamada was born in Ehime on August 5, 1996. He started his career in the youth team of Sagan Tosu and debuted in the J. League Cup in April 2015 and in the J1 League on May 10.
In 2017 he signed for Eintracht Frankfurt. He did not play much in his first year, so in his second he was sent on loan to Sint-Truiden in Belgium in the Jupiler Pro League. He did very well, so he was back in Frankfurt for the 2019-20 season. He then appeared in 178 games with 40 goals, winning a national cup in 2017-18 and the Europa League in 2021-22.
At the end of the 2022-23 season his contract expired and he had not renewed it. Lazio were looking for a possible replacement for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and the Japanese, even though a different player altogether, could theoretically have taken his place. In August he signed a one-year contract with an option for another two years.
One could see immediately that the Japanese needed time to find his place in Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio, but all seemed to be forgotten when he scored his first goal for the Biancocelesti in Naples. Unfortunately, his struggles continued throughout the season. He seemed like a fish out of water, and did not know what to do on the field. Then Sarri resigned in April and Igor Tudor took his place. Kamada came back to life and played very well under the Croatian. In the end he made 38 appearances with two goals.
His contract ended at the end of May and it was hoped that he would trigger the two-year new deal. But he did not. His agents proposed another one-year contract to president Claudio Lotito which he refused. At this point Kamada signed a two-year contract for Crystal Palace in the Premier League, which probably was the game plan all along.
Kamada has played 33 games for Japan with 7 goals. He played in the 2022 World Cup where Japan were eliminated in the round of 16 after having beaten Germany and Spain in the group phase. They lost to Croatia on penalties.
Kamada is a box-to-box midfielder, good sense of position, great shot. It is a pity that his stay at Lazio was so short. But perhaps that was the plan when he signed.
Lazio Career
Season | Total apperances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League |
2023-24 | 38 (2) | 29 (2) | 2 | 7 |
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