They say that this was a difficult day at the offices of Ipurua . Difficult and tense. The talks for the renewal of Takashi Inui had been long but satisfactory. Only the signature was missing, or so they thought of Eibar, which projected out an optimism that they believed was real. But then, suddenly and without seeing it coming, the blow arrived. The representative of the Japanese informed the Guipuzcoan club that nothing spoken was worth it and that his client was leaving for Betis with the freedom letter. Sayonara Agur

The anger in some leaders of the gunsmith club was capital. Not only because of the ways in which his departure took place, but because of the consequences he had with him. The sports could be corrected - so it was with the arrival of Marc Cucurella - but not the economic ones. Inui's presence in Ipurua had opened an important business path in Japan, a country where the gunsmith club became the third Spanish club with the best audiences, only behind Barcelona and Real Madrid . With his departure, that road did not close, but it was very limited. In social networks, for example, Eibar quickly lost more than 30% of its Japanese followers.

In spite of everything, Inui had a farewell to Ipurua at the height of what he had offered for three seasons. In the last match of the 2017/18 season, he was held by his teammates before a hobby that showed him his unconditional affection with songs, banners, cheers ... Perhaps by then Inui had already regretted his decision. He had sought a better contract and greater sports aspirations - Europe League - with Betis at the cost of sacrificing his emotional stability. And the bet did not go well.

Inui never finished fitting into the plans of Quique Setién , who barely aligned him nine times as a starter in midseason. In January, he left on loan to Alavés to cover the exit of Ibai and there he regained his smile. But not quite. The Vitorian team wished to continue counting on their services, but found that Inui's desire was univocal: he wanted to return to Eibar yes or yes. I had already tried, without success, in January and in summer I would do it again.

This was made known to the gunsmith club, in whose offices there was debate about the suitability of his possible return after the way in which his departure had taken place just a year earlier. "But as soon as Barça let us know that he was going to reload Cucurella, both Mendilibar and the sports management were clear that the first option was Taka," they explain from the club. And in Eibar, when Mendilibar asks for something - and that something is economically viable - it is practically God's word. For about two million euros, Inui returned to his second home with which, he says, he is "like a father" to him: "He is a person whom I adore and respect very much."

Inui's charms

«It's salao . It is Japanese, but it is very salao, ”says Mendilibar, a phrase that said by a Basque is almost equivalent to that pronounced by the Japanese. Both the coach and his teammates - also the fans - received him with open arms in their second stage. "He's an uncle who makes himself loved, a boy's charm," they say from the locker room.

Upon arrival, he paid the hazing of singing the Doraemon song, almost a tradition, since he also did it at Betis in his first stage in Ipurua. In a way, it is as if time had not passed and his stay at the Eibar had been continuous. Only the residence changes: for three years he lived in Eibar and now seeks an apartment in Bilbao.

In the first two days, Inui did not play any minute, so it could be released this afternoon in the Wanda against an Atlético that recovers Diego Costa and Lodi and loses Morata . "But you will not see a bad face and, in addition, you see him training and he leaves his soul in each play, it is a pass", they comment, with satisfaction, in Eibar. It will be because of his natural discipline - «He is too obedient: I tell him to center and center, I tell him to come and go. Sometimes I have to tell him not to pay me a damn case, ”Mendilibar said of him - or simply because Taka is happy again, because at home he is nowhere to be found and his has turned out to be in a country town Basque.

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