Here is the summary about Cerezo Osaka’s transfer and contract news coming out since the last post.
- Ins - Goalkeeper Kentaro Kakoi returns to Cerezo Osaka after a loan spell with Avispa Fukuoka. Kakoi had a good season with Fukuoka as he played 26 games for the J2 side, which is his career high. That’s why this was taken as a bit of surprise. He first needs to compete with Kenta Tanno, who renewed his contract with the club as written below, to be the second goalkeeper after Kim Jin-hyeon.
- Outs - Some young players were announced to leave the club on loan to gain experience: Hinata Kida to Avispa Fukuoka, Hirofumi Yamauchi to FC Machida Zelvia (loan extension), Takeru Kishimoto to Tokushima Vortis, and Ahn Joon-soo to Kagoshima United FC (loan extension). In addition, young striker Rei Yonezawa leaves the club to join Kagoshima United FC on a permanent basis. Yonezawa has played well at the J3 level, scoring 12 goals for the U-23 team this season and this transfer will give him a new challenge.
- Contract renewal - Yoichiro Kakitani, Tatsuya Yamashita, Riku Matsuda, Kota Mizunuma, Musashi Oyama, Towa Yamane, Toshiki Onozawa, Kenta Tanno, and Yusuke Maruhashi agreed to play for Cerezo in the upcoming season.
- Rumors - As they lost their key midfielder, Cerezo are actively searching for his replacement. As a result, there has been many rumors so far, none of which have been confirmed. Aside from Sho Inagaki and Tokyo Verdy players, who already confirmed to stay at their current club, as well as Leandro Desabato, Japanese media outlets mentioned Ryohei Shirasaki, Ryota Nagaki, Hiroaki Okuno, and Naoyuki Fujita. Among these players, Shirasaki decided to move to Kashima Antlers and Nagaki turned down an offer from Cerezo. Hiroaki Okuno and Naoyuki Fujita are likely to join Cerezo according to reports, but again, nothing has been confirmed yet.
This is the last post for 2018. Thank you for reading my blog this year. Have a happy new year!