After the competitors Sports Nippon and Sports Hochi reported, today’s edition of Nikkan Sports published an article about the Yoon-to-Cerezo rumor, under the headline which can be translated as “Yoon Jong-Hwan is set to be appointed as new manager for Cerezo Osaka.”

The former Sagan Tosu manager is currently taking charge of South Korean club Ulsan Hyundai which are about to play the championship round of K League Classic.

According to the article, one Cerezo executive said yesterday that they “want to confirm it as soon as possible” and there is a possibility that the deal will be fixed next week.

Yoon neither admitted nor completely denied the rumor in an interview conducted after these Japanese reports by South Korean news agency Yonhap News. In a sense, this is surely a response expected from the manager who still has some games to play with his current club, but at the same time it may perhaps be worth attention that he didn’t deny it.

At the moment, I can’t judge these rumors true or false, or how much reliable they are, but one very likely thing is that Kiyoshi Okuma won’t leave Cerezo Osaka even if Yoon assumes his managerial position next season. He will stay at the club as general manager, these reports said.

Source: Nikkan Sports, Yonhap News