9. Keisuke Honda
The playmaker began his European career at little-known Dutch outfit VVV Venlo in January 2008 but the club experienced relegation at the end of the 2007/08 season. During the following campaign, Honda scored 16 goals and ensured the club’s promotion back to the top division. His tally of 24 goals from 68 league appearances during his time at VVV earned him the title of ‘Eerste Divisie Player of the Year’ for 2008/09 and he became popularly known as ‘Keizer Keisuke’ (Emperor Keisuke) among the Dutch fans.
Honda followed up his impressive beginnings with a trophy-laden four-year stint at Russian club CSKA Moscow where he won the treble of the Russian Premier League, Russian Cup and Russian Super Cup in 2013. In January 2014, the midfielder moved on to Italian club AC Milan where he scored key goals especially from set-pieces for the Rossoneri in the Coppa Italia quarterfinal and others against Parma, Empoli and Verona in the league.
An eye-catching striker of dead balls, Honda’s most noteworthy performances for Japan came in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. In the former tournament, he was adjudged man of the match on three occasions, en route to the Samurai Blue’s journey through to the round of 16, and won the ‘Japanese Footballer of the Year’ award for 2010. During his national team’s Asian Cup title winning exploits in 2011, Honda was named the ‘Most valuable player’ of the tournament.
