The club that reached the 2013 Champions League quarter-finals are in such a shambolic state that they had to release the Japanese forward before he played a competitive game
“I’ll never forget Málaga,” Shinji Okazaki said, and that much at least was true. Alas, so much else wasn’t. The Spanish second division team announced the signing of the former Leicester City player at 3.04pm on 30 July; at six minutes past midnight on 3 September, as the transfer window closed in La Liga, they announced that they were releasing him. Amid a crisis that could yet have far more serious consequences, Málaga had been unable to register the Japan international because of the salary limit. He leaves without playing a competitive game.
“I regret nothing,” Okazaki wrote in a message that was magnanimous, remarkable in its warmth; there was no bitterness. He even said that if he gets the chance to sign for Málaga in the future, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so, although presumably only if there is a different president in charge by then and some stability at the club.
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