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Kenyu Sugimoto selected as the Player of the Month

Posted at — Aug 9, 2017

Cerezo Osaka striker Kenyu Sugimoto has been chosen as the Mastercard Player of the Month after scoring 5 goals in 4 games last month.

There were only 2 players who scored 5 goals in July, Sugimoto and his former teammate Yu Kobayashi, but he was better than Kobayashi in almost all aspects, such as the number of on-target shots, the number of receiving forward passes, the number of dribbles, and the number and the win rate of aerial battles. The selection committee says that Sugimoto “has not just increased his presence as a key striker, but also been highly rated in defense and playmaking, such as defending from the front, receiving a long-range pass from the back, and breaking through the center of the pitch. That’s why he has been selected without any question.”

On the J.League’s official website, Sugimoto commented as follows: “This is the first time for me to be selected, so I am sincerely happy. I am grateful to my teammates because without them I couldn’t have scored goals. While tough games continued in the very hot weather in July, we could win because we united as one and got a big boost from the supporters. More tough games will follow from now on too, but we’ll try our best to win one by one and stay at the current position.”

Watch all 5 goals Sugimoto scored in July