The latest Squad Building Challenge has been released in FIFA 23 allowing you to earn a Flashback Shinji Kagawa celebrating his inclusion in FIFA World Cup 2018. Right from the off, it's amazing to see players from less desirable leagues and nations be featured in FIFA Ultimate Team, especially with the new chemistry system as it should be fairly easy to at least get them to 2 out of 3 chemistry points which is more than enough.
Let's take a look at how much the SBC costs, which links are available, and whether or not you should be completing this Kagawa Flashback SBC.
Flashback Kagawa
From the first glance at Kagawa, at least in regard to stats, things are looking good for the current power curve and FIFA meta. The glaring "issue" immediately is the issues that you might have with getting him onto chemistry, but let's address that. Outside of taking the risk on the likes of Mignolet in your team, who players in the 1A Pro League, there's currently a lack of options. Hopefully, as we see more Squad Foundations introduced, EA can help address this, but for now, the league links are a disaster.
When we take a look at the nation links though, things do pick up slightly as you can use Hero Nakata to help things along, but only gets him one chemistry point. Where things truly pick up though, is that we know for certain that there will be a Japan-focused Dynamic Duo released at some point.
It appears that every nation attending the World Cup is featured in the Dynamic Duos, so even if you don't have the coins to pick up Nakata, very soon you will have two alternative options that will likely be obtainable through Objectives. So if you like the idea of playing with Kagawa but links are the worry, you can complete him knowing that some more options will be coming.
In regards to the deep dive into stats, it continues to look good. He comes with a 4-star weak foot and 4-star skill moves, and his workrates have been improved to High / Medium. For those of you on next-gen worried about AcceleRATE and asking the question "can Kagawa be lengthy?", the answer is no.
He is explosive and cannot be changed from it. However, this shouldn't be an issue as with his well-rounded stats, you would be best to use him as a central CAM and utilise the quick bursts of pace to your advantage. The only downside really is that he has 44 strength and 37 aggression.
How much does Flashback Kagawa cost?
Kagawa is coming in considerably cheap, which is good news for those of you that might want to complete him for the Dortmund or Manchester United sentimental value. The Kagawa SBC only requires a singular squad, and the only requirement is that it be 84-rated. This means the cost is coming in at 31,200 coins.
So, he's definitely a card that can be completed for cheap or possibly crafted with any duplicates you need to get rid of, but be aware that you might have to utilize him as a super sub if you care greatly about chemistry. At this point, it's worth noting that chemistry styles were nerfed slightly this year, and there isn't a problem with having a few players, not on full chemistry.
Should you complete Flashback Kagawa?
Despite feeling like a massive hypocrite as this is the sort of content I've been asking to see more of, it seems like there are too many question marks surrounding this SBC at the moment. Complete or Yeet? Yeet. Please kind in mind, this verdict could very change in the next two weeks before the SBC expires. If the Japan Dynamic Duos arrive and are great, then all of a sudden this becomes Complete.
However, as there are currently some likability concerns, how is weak with low aggression which does have an impact in-game, and we should be able to receive a wealth of content in the coming weeks, this will likely be an SBC you complete, and then never use. I'd even consider just taking that 84-rated squad requirement and using that to complete the first segment of the new Base FUT Hero Upgrade that got released.
Let us know if you will be completing Flashback Kagawa and which Japanese players you would like to see featured as the Dynamic Duo.