Cerezo Osaka today announced that Shohei Kiyohara joins Tokushima Vortis and Mitsuru Maruoka joins V-Varen Nagasaki, both on loan.

This is the first move by the club during the summer transfer window. Both loan contracts last until the end of the season.

Shohei Kiyohara joined Cerezo last year and later became an important part of the team and contributed a lot to the team’s promotion to J1. But this year, after the club signed a few new players who play in the same position, his rank within the team lowered, and consequently he couldn’t have got many opportunities to play. He appeared in only 3 league games, while playing in 7 cup games so far.

Tokushima Vortis are currently in a good form under new manager Ricardo Rodriguez as they are in the third place of the J2 League now. Kiyohara says “I couldn’t have contributed to the team and felt my inadequacy, so I made this decision. I am very grateful to your passionate support” on the official website.

Young midfielder Mitsuru Maruoka also had the same problem as he played 4 times and started only once for the first team this season so far, while he also played 5 games for Cerezo Osaka U-23. After returning from Borussia Dortmund last year, he’s got a few playing opportunities but couldn’t secure a spot. Especially this year, Cerezo have many other players in his position and it’s been very hard for him to even sit on the bench.

V-Varen Nagasaki are currently in a process of bouncing back especially in terms of finance after they appointed Akira Takata, nationally popular figure who long worked as a president of TV mail-order company Japanet Takata, as their club president. They are also in a good form and currently in the fourth place. “I had been thinking what I needed to do to develop myself, and this time I decided to make a new challenge at Nagasaki. I will do my best so that I can show you my improvement,” he said on the official website.

Good luck Kiyohara and Maruoka!