Inamoto hoping to make instant impact at Fulham
Japan's World Cup midfielder Junichi Inamoto wants to make an immediate impact at Fulham after joining the English premier league club on loan earlier this week.
The 22-year-old, who will be officially unveiled as a Fulham player on Friday, has been training at the French national team facility in Clairefontaine, near Paris, since the weekend in a bid to play in the Intertoto Cup.
Fulham play hosts to Greek side Aegaelo in a third round first leg tie at Craven Cottage on Saturday after scraping through on away goals against Haka Valkeakoski of Finland in the previous round.
Inamoto was released by English premier league champions Arsenal last month, despite scoring two goals to help co-hosts Japan reach the second round of the World Cup.
"This will be my second season in Europe, so this year is going to be a big challenge for me," Inamoto said on his official website. "The most important thing for me this season will be to play games."
He only made four appearances -- two in the League Cup and two as a substitute in the Champions League -- after joining Arsenal from J-League club Gamba Osaka for $5.85 million last July.
Inamoto did not play a single premier league match at Arsenal as he was unable to force his way into a midfield featuring the likes of Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Ray Parlour, Edu and Freddie Ljungberg.
FULHAM LIFELINE
But Fulham manager Jean Tigana threw Inamoto a lifeline earlier this week by signing the Japanese player on a one-year loan deal, with an option to keep him at the west London club until 2006.
Tigana can already call on John Collins, Steed Malbranque, Sylvain Legwinski, Sean Davis and Bjarne Goldbaek, while the arrival of France international Martin Djetou will further strengthen Fulham's midfield.
But Inamoto can still expect the Frenchman to give him sufficient opportunity to stake his claim at Fulham, who finished 13th last season in their first premier league campaign.
Although predominantly a defensive midfield player, Inamoto showed at the World Cup that he has an eye for goal by scoring in the 2-2 draw with Belgium and the 1-0 win over Russia as Japan finished top of group H. The co-hosts lost 1-0 to Turkey in the second round.
Despite stating publicly that he wanted to stay at Arsenal, manager Arsene Wenger told Inamoto he was surplus to requirements, sparking interest from around Europe, including Serie A clubs Perugia and Atalanta.
Nicknamed "T-shirt" by fans at Highbury for the merchandising revenue he earned Arsenal in the Far East, Inamoto is set to be an even more valuable commodity for Fulham as his first-team appearances increase at his new club.
