GAMES - OTHER Saturday will be a special moment for Keisuke Goto: the Japanese striker from STVV will return to Anderlecht, the club that loaned him out this season, for the first time. His value rose from €1.2 million to €3.5 million in just a few months, and he became one of the revelations of the competition at Stayen.
Goto, barely 20, has already scored seven times in seventeen games this season. Former STVV player Bram Vangeel believes his statistics could have been even better, referring to two disputed disallowed goals. “He is lethal in the box. Give him a meter and it's over.”
Continue reading below the article
Continue reading Analyst Franky Van der Elst also sees great progress: “He has become tactically smarter, knows exactly where to run and almost never makes stupid choices. Moreover, he is technically strong enough to participate in combination play and is strong in the air when he needs to be. That makes him particularly annoying for defenders.”
Van der Elst understands the label of “annoying striker” all too well: “He cleverly moves out of the defenders' sight and never hesitates to shoot immediately. That's what earned him the penalty against Club Brugge, for example.”
On Saturday, Goto will have the opportunity to demonstrate his abilities once again at Lotto Park, this time as an opponent. However, his future remains uncertain: Anderlecht has not secured an option to purchase him from STVV. “This match will be the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how much he has progressed,” says Van der Elst. “After that, it will be up to Anderlecht to decide: keep him, loan him out, or sell him?”
