, known in Spain as Pipi, is a Japanese professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who plays as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
for
Rayo Majadahonda
Club de Fútbol Rayo Majadahonda () is a Spanish football team based in Majadahonda, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1976 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Cerro del Espino'', with ...
, on loan from
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
club
Real Madrid and the
Japan national team.
Club career
Pipi was born in
Shiga
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...
, Japan, and was spotted by Spanish giants
Real Madrid while playing in one of their training camps in Japan. He was invited for a trial in Spain and impressed enough to sign a contract in 2014.
Prior to his move to Spain, Pipi had been playing for Azul Shiga.
After Real Madrid was sanctioned heavily in 2016 by the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...
(CAS), it was Nakai's mother who offered testimony that prevented Madrid from suffering further punishment. Her testimony also meant that her son would avoid punishment, as his move to Madrid had been under investigation by the CAS.
In October 2020, Pipi was called up to train with the Real Madrid senior squad for the first time. He was seen as one of Real Madrid's best prospects, and was named in English newspaper ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''s "Next Generation 2021", highlighting the best players born in 2003 worldwide.
In February 2022, Pipi signed a contract extension with Real Madrid until 2025. Ahead of the 2022–23 season, Pipi was promoted to
Real Madrid Castilla from the club's under-19 side. Pipi made his debut for Castilla on September 25, 2022, coming on as a substitute in a 3–1 victory over
CD Badajoz.
International career
Pipi was called up for the
Japan under-16 side in 2018. He featured in three friendly games for the under-16 side, before going on to make two appearances at under-20 level in 2022.
Career statistics
.
References
External links
Real Madrid profile*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakai, Takuhiro
2003 births
Living people
People from Ōtsu, Shiga
Association football people from Shiga Prefecture
Japanese men's footballers
Japan men's youth international footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Primera Federación players
Real Madrid CF players
Real Madrid Castilla footballers
Japanese expatriate men's footballers
Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate men's footballers in Spain