Kenyu Sugimoto told Nikkan Sports that he already “made up my mind” whether to stay at the club or not amid rumors of a possible offer from Spain.

Meanwhile, Sugimoto also made clear that he hadn’t received any offer yet. This blog already wrote about La Liga side Girona getting interested in him and the situation hasn’t changed since then.

One of a few new information included in Nikkan’s article is that last year the striker received and declined an offer from Tenerife, the club where former Kashima midfielder Gaku Shibasaki joined last winter (and left this summer).

Now we know he already decided on his future despite no official offer coming in yet, but we don’t know what decision he made. Basically, on these issues, the club have always taken a stance that it all depends on what a player wants to do (so if a player wants to move they don’t necessarily prevent it), but the article said they would make a full effort to persuade him to stay.

My opinion is that if he wants to go he can but not now. It’s because Cerezo, of course, need him in aiming for ACL qualification or even the top of the table, but also because I still can’t imagine he will succeed overseas. Another opinion is that whether he leaves this summer or not, the club should sign a striker.