Apparently Okazaki was a Walsh signing who has been following him for a good while - the reason why we ended up relatively spending so much to land him was because like you said Vichai always said he wanted an Asian player and we pretty much just paid what Mainz wanted without negotiating.
We have reportedly Thailand's best player - GK Kawin Thamsatchanan aka Tong - at OH Leuven waiting to be eligible for a work permit.
We were linked with Shinji Kagawa at the beginning of the season - wonder if we will reignite that as he would bring the experience that we would lose with Okazaki leaving and can play anywhere up front.