Cerezo Osaka announced today that academy players Ryuya Nishio, Takaya Yoshinare, Nagi Matsumoto, and Shota Fujio will join the club next season.
The four players are already known faces for Cerezo Osaka supporters as they have played constantly for the U-23 side in the J3 League this season (as summarized below). All of them have also been named to the national team. Actually Nishio and Matsumoto, as well as another academy player Kaito Hayashida, are currently with Japan’s under-18 squad for the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers held in Vietnam.
Although I am not as closely following the U-23 team as the first team, one thing I found from watching some of their games this season is that Nagi Matsumoto has good quality in passing. He set up Fujio’s first goal at professional level in the game against Giravanz Kitakyushu last month and his pass, as well as Fujio’s shot, was really something.
Other than the four players, Cerezo Osaka have already announced high schoolers Jun Nishikawa and Tatsuya Tabira will join the club next season.