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In November 2001, the first Japanese goalkeeper to play English league football conceded a goal within the first minute of his debut. Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi may have struggled for second-tier Portsmouth, conceding 21 times in his 12 games after being spotted by the then-director of football, Harry Redknapp, but he also produced some world-class saves and had glowing things to say about the Royal Mail.

Replaced by a 42-year-old Dave Beasant, Kawaguchi nevertheless remains a cult hero on the south coast as a standing ovation in his final game demonstrated. Despite going on to play 116 times for Japan, he never made the jump to the Premier League. Now though, finally, Japan has a number one in the top flight.

Zion Suzuki has big gloves to fill at Aston Villa where he is set to take over from Emiliano Martínez. In terms of mentality and self-belief, succeeding a World Cup winner at a Champions League club will not be an issue. The 23-year-old has already overcome plenty of barriers.

If much has changed in Japanese football in a quarter of a century, the same can be said of the past 30 months or so since the Asian Cup when the US-born shotstopper made a number of errors as Japan, the continent’s No 1 team, crashed out at the quarter-final stage. While some of his teammates did not exactly impress in Qatar, it was Suzuki who copped the blame.

That was tough enough to take for any goalkeeper, let alone a 20-year-old, but there was another level. The player with a Japanese mother and a Ghanaian-American father became the target of racist abuse online. “I’ve received [discriminatory comments] since elementary school, but I won’t give in to them,” Suzuki said. “I could have pretended to ignore [the messages], but I wanted to share my story in the hope that it could help not only soccer players, but athletes and young children with all kinds of roots.”

There are an increasing number of Japanese sports stars with mixed ethnic origin — tennis’s Naomi Osaka and the NBA’s Rui Hachimura, for example — and in football Suzuki is the highest-profile. After a short spell with Urawa Reds, one of Japan and Asia’s biggest clubs, in August 2023 he left for a season in Belgium with Sint-Truiden. It went so well that, 12 months later, there was a five-year deal with Parma where he quickly established himself.

One of the strongest goalkeepers around, his athleticism and shot-stopping is not in doubt, as he showed during the World Cup with a low save from Vinícius Júnior catching the eye. His positioning can still improve but he is good in the air (second in Serie A last season for crosses caught and high claims) and on the ground (second for successful long passes).

Adapting to England’s congested six-yard areas may take time and dominating the box like Martínez may take more. Since the Asian Cup, he has barely put a glove wrong for Japan and, despite a few mistakes at Parma, he was the main man between the sticks from when he joined until, well, Wednesday morning. Now, if Unai Emery can do what he does best then there is serious potential.

Suzuki can now help change the perception of Asian goalkeepers on a stage with a bigger global reach than Italy can offer. Attackers such as Son Heung-min and Kaoru Mitoma have lit up the Premier League and Abdukodir Khusanov has recovered from a dodgy start at Manchester City to become one of the league’s top defenders, but goalkeepers from Asia have not been common in England’s top flight.

There was Oman’s Ali Al-Habsi, who played in the Premier League for Bolton and Wigan, impressing for the former against Bayern Munich in the Uefa Cup. Neil Etheridge of the Philippines played every game for Cardiff in 2018-19. Overall, though, it is slim pickings.

The World Cup did not help. At crucial times, Iraq, Uzbekistan and Jordan looked like they could get results but then a goalkeeping error saw potential points lost. South Korean football has gone into meltdown since the World Cup but had Kim Seung-gyu, usually a solid No 1, not dropped a clanger against Mexico then South Korea could have sealed a knockout stage spot with a game still to play and all the fallout may have been avoided.

While that is a lot to put on the powerful shoulders of the Samurai Blue stopper, he can make a difference. Despite being a trailblazer in Serie A, with Italian football still regarded, perhaps nostalgically in Asia, as the home of the strong defence and solid goalkeeper, his every move in Italy was not followed even back in Japan. This will be different. Success in the Premier League would not just be a big deal for Suzuki and Aston Villa.