"Moving to Manchester United was Kagawa's childhood dream"

Borussia Dortmund chief Hans-Joachim Watzke has admitted that many European clubs were in contention to sign Shinji Kagawa but the Japanese midfielder favored a move to Manchester United to fulfill his childhood dream. The 23-year-old is expected to formally presented to the fans next week after both clubs agreed a deal in principal. Watzke told the Ruhr Nachrichten:

“With respect, Manchester United did come looking for him. He was given the chance to fulfil a childhood dream.

“But we are not forced to sell anybody for financial reasons.”

Watzke added that the club has no intentions to sell star striker Robert Lewandowski who has been repeatedly linked with a move to Old Trafford.

“I do not know how many times do we have to emphasise that Robert Lewandowski will remain.”

Meanwhile, Bundesliga expert Raphael Honigstein believes United have signed a winner in the form of Shinji Kagawa. The influential midfielder has scored 29 goals and assisted 15 others in his 71 appearances for Dortmund since joining them in the summer of 2010 from Cerezo Osaka. The player is currently on international duty for Japan, playing in World Cup qualification matches. Honigstein said:

“It’s a brilliant signing. A lot of clubs would have liked to make the move, but United benefited from one of the rare instances where a player had really made up his mind that he wanted to play for a specific club. Of course money is important, but for him it was almost more of a romantic notion of joining United, and the others had no chance. They tried to get very near United’s offer, but Kagawa had made up his mind that this was his dream and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. All sorts of clubs were trying to sign him and I think it’s a real coup for United to get him.”