He's a 10 playing for Klopp. Signs for United to play for Sir Alex, Rooney has the 10 sewn up regardless of how well he plays but he's normally playing really well so not a problem us. But a problem for a 10 comng in. Then Sir Alex leaves with unfinished business with players like Kagawa and Zaha. No doubt he thought he was leaving fantastic players for the next manager to build a great team with.
Sir Alex and Gill leave at the same time. Not only do we have a new manager and new coaching staff come in, but we have a new man in charge of making the transfers happen. It couldnt be worse timing and results in our big summer signing being... Fellaini... Who was available earlier in the transfer window for less money and we didnt sign him.
We have a season where expectations are still high for Moyes and we dont come close. And then he's gone and LVG comes in.
Kagawa's main standout qualities were his dribbling and more importantly he would join the attack at the right times to get on the scoresheet. Klopp said he had the best nose for goal of any player he managed at that point. 13 goals and 8 assists in the league alone in 11/12 gave him that impression.
LVG comes in and coaches the attacking instincts out of everyone. We have Rooney and Mata playing as central midfielders at certain points. Mata who came in under Moyes and was our most creative player lost his edge in the final third too and never recovered to be the same player either although he still produced more in the final third than Kagawa. They were coached into keeping the ball at all costs and not taking chances to try and change the scoreline. Mata and Kagawa playind down the sides had decent enough play before the box but no cutting edge in the final third.
So Kagawa is moved on and he plays a deeper proper CM role now, probably because he's lost that goalscoring instinct that had been impressive before.
Realistically after he went back he was still a fairly good player for Dortmund. He just wasnt the same player. He wasnt the 10 joining and scoring lots of goals, he was an 8 scoring some and setting up goals for others and he was no longer looking among the best players at Dortmund.
Whether it was the LVG coaching in his head leading to him not getting himself in the same positions to score goals or a loss of confidence where he was thriving at Dortmund and then at United he was just a kag in the wheel, a stand in for Rooney in his actual position, played out of position on the left or coached out of creating and scoring goals by LVG's tactics he couldnt find the Kagawa he was the first time at Dortmund. I have sympathy for him for his time at United but I think if he was strong mentally he would have been able to find the player he was after he left and he didnt quite get there. So that last part falls on him. Plus they say you should never go back because it'll never be the same so perhaps it wasnt the right move anyway. Regardless I did think he would do better than he did post United even though he was once again a pretty good player for Dortmund, he could have been more.
All in all a big shame for United. At Dortmund he was flying and looked a fantastic player who could be a big part of our first team. He was one of several who were caught in the many different directions people were pulling the club after they came in and he no doubt changed as a person and as a player