Official 2013-2014 J. League Transfers and Rumors thread

05/01/2014

★ It's the goalkeepers' day today: rumours and speculations were in the air for a while, and now Shusaku Nishikawa (27) has officially signed for Urawa Reds. Nishikawa will follow the Kashiwagi trail- i.e., he is only the latest of a series of players who have switched from Sanfrecce Hiroshima to the Saitama army these past seasons (including current Reds coach Petrovic). Ironically the Archers won the J.League twice since the trend started, while the ambitious Reds have harvested nothing... but this doesn't mean that Nishikawa is a player Sanfrecce fans won't miss: he is currently second GK for the national team, and has started several games ahead of Kawashima in the past years (four this year: 2 EAFF games and 2 friendlies, including the one vs. Netherlands). A Oita prefecture native, he started his career playing for his local J.League side, Trinita, before moving to Sanfrecce in 2010.
★ The archers didn't lose any time and brought in a remarkable replacement, Vegalta Sendai's Takuto Hayashi (31). A bit of a late bloomer, he started making a name for himself during Sendai's post-earthquake impressive rise of form in 2011- he pretty much only played in J2 before 2010. He has been a centrepiece of Sendai's defense line, and hasn't missed a single J.League game since 2009! Hayashi actually started his career in Hiroshima- he spent four seasons on the archers' bench.
★ The last noteworthy deal of the day regards a forward, for a change- Kawasaki Frontale signed Oita Trinita's Yasuhito Morishima (26). Morishima proved to be a fairly prolific scorer between 2011 and 2012, netting 11 and 14 seasonal goals respectively. He wasn't able to score much in 2013 as his team sinked to a seemingly unavoidable relegation- still, he was one of the best players of the club. He has been with Oita since their historic 2008 season- before that, he played for Cerezo Osaka.
- Another player who is set to leave Trinita is goalkeeper Keisuke Shimizu (25), who will be loaned to northern cousins Avispa Fukuoka. Shimizu was Trinita's main GK between 2011 and 2012, and while he gained his starting place back towards the end of the season, he lost his place in the lineup for most of 2013 to his teammate Kenta Tanno. Random fact- since turning pro, he has never played outside of Kyushu.
- Since there weren't enough GKs moving around today, Urawa Reds decided to loan their reserve Yukiteru Otani (24) to his native island, where he will play for Giravanz Kitakyushu (he actually was born in Kumamoto, but whatevs). Since turning pro in 2008 the poor guy has never played a game with the Reds, not even in the Cups. He had some satisfaction with the youth NTs though, as he played a handful of games between 2009 and 2010 wearing the Japan shirt.

 

06/01/2014
Stuff is getting serious now.

★ Story of the day is the move of JNT striker Yuya Osako (23) to 2.Bundesliga side TSV 1860 Munchen. The deal had been in the air for a few days, but was made official today. Osako, who played for Kashima Antlers until now, was considered a promising player who never seemed to have a breakthrough season. This happened last season, when he scored a remarkable 19 goals and imposed himself as an important piece for the JNT, with a brilliant performance against the Netherlands and also scoring twice against Australia in the East Asian Football Championship. Osako, who is a Kagoshima native and attended the same high school as Yasuhito Endo, signed for Kashima after graduating in 2009, and thus spent five seasons with the Ibaraki herd.
★ Striker Pedro Junior (26) is back to Japan as he signed a permanent deal with Vissel Kobe. Pedro played for Jeju United in the K-League last season, netting a respectable 15 goals (comprehensive of two hat-tricks). He first came to Japan in 2007 to play with Ardija, but he wasn't able to impress with the squirrels. He came back two years later at Albirex, and in nine months he was impressive enough to be snatched away by Gamba Osaka. The Kansai outfit didn't use him much, and he came back to Brazil. He then came back in 2011 to play for FC Tokyo but his spell wasn't anywhere near remarkable.
★ Right-back Hayuma Tanaka (31) joined Matsumoto Yamaga from Nagoya Grampus. This is quite a signing for the ptarmigans: Tanaka may not be in his prime anymore, but he isn't exactly Kazu-aged either, and has been a starter in J1 since 2004, playing for Marinos and Grampus, winning two J.League titles (one for each team). He also played for the NT (although just once) in 2006. He may intend to end his career in Yamaga, as he was born in Matsumoto.
★ Former Kashima Antlers legend Daiki Iwamasa (31) will leave the country after he was released by the Ibaraki herd towards the end of november. Iwamasa, who was a part of J.League's best eleven for three years in a row and won several trophies with his team, switched to the increasingly popular Thai Premier League, signing for BEC Tero Sasana. He will find another Japanese there, globetrotter Sho Shimoji, who arrived to Thailand after playing in Paraguay and Brazil. Iwamasa also collected a few JNT caps, and played both in the semi-finals against South Korea and the finals against Australia in the 2011 Asian Cup.
- Vissel Kobe signed switchback Shunki Takahashi (23) from Urawa Red Diamonds: we need to go back to 2011 to see him playing with the Reds though, as he spent the last two seasons on loan to J2 side JEF United. Takahashi was a bright prospect of Japanese football, and was a member of youth teams until 2011- he was actually a starter for the Reds under the other Petrovic, the one fans don't really like to remember.
- JEF United Chiba bought defender Masakazu Tashiro (25) from Yokohama F. Marinos. He had been playing for the Yokohama team since 2007, except for a two seasons loan to Machida Zelvia between 2011 and 2012, during which he estabilished himself as a starter in the kingfishers' lineup. He never played much for Marinos instead- he didn't have any appearance with them last season.
- Midfielder Shigeru Yokotani (26) will stay to Kyoto Sanga, where he played last season, signing a permanent deal with the phoenixes instead of moving back to Gamba Osaka, the club he was on loan from. Yokotani never had any particular success in Gamba, while he quickly found a place in the Sanga lineup. He scored 11 goals last season.
- Sanfrecce Hiroshima signed midfielder Yoshifumi Kashiwa (26) from Ventforet Kofu. Kashiwa has been starting almost every game for the Kai team these past two seasons; this will be his first move as a pro.
- Attacking midfielder Yuto Takeoka, who is one of the youngsters of Yokohama FC being "only" 27 years old, has signed for his first J1 side- Kawasaki Frontale. Takeoka has only played in J2 so far, having his maiden season in Tosu and then moving toYokohama. He has been a regular starter with the team, and was on the pitch on 40 games last season.
- Brazilian Serie D side Clube Atletico Metropolitano will loan its defender Dudu (Carlos Eduardo Bendini Giusti, 20) back to Japan, after he spent six months in Tottori last season. He will now play for Tochigi SC, who picked up some quite interesting Brazilians throughout the last seasons but lost them all during this transfer window. Dudu managed to start a few games at Tottori last season.
- After being a sub at Sagan Tosu for three seasons, during which he only scored once in the league, forward Shohei Okada (24) will be loaned to recently relegated Shonan Bellmare. Okada comes from FC Tokyo's youth system and after attending university in Kyushu he signed for the pink magpies in 2011. This move brings him closer to his hometown, as he was born in Kawasaki.
- Yokohama F. Marinos will loan defender Takashi Amano (27) to JEF United Chiba. After several seasons of complete anonimity, he suddenly rose to fame in 2010, gaining a starting spot in the Marinos lineup. That didn't last long however, and in 2011 he was back to the bench. He spent all of 2012 away from the pitch, dealing with an injury. Despite playing very little, he never left Marinos for nine seasons.
- Avispa Fukuoka will loan centre-back Tokio Hatamoto (21) to J3 side Zweigen Kanazawa. Hatamoto's career has took a turn for the worse last season, after he put together a fairly decent 2012 during which he was a starter for a few weeks he only managed two starts in the league this season. This is his first move outside Fukuoka since turning professional in 2011.
- Another news regarding Avispa is that AM Jun Kanakubo (26) is back to Omiya Ardija, after he spent 2013 on loan to the Kyushu wasps. Kanakubo has been with Ardija since 2010- he had played in the JFL before that, when he was at Ryutsu Keizai University. He is not related to V-Varen's Sai Kanakubo, even though they come from the same town.
- Giravanz Kitakyushu will loan their young defender Isao Taniguchi (22) to recently formed JFL side Kagoshima United. Not much can be said about Taniguchi, as he was signed from university last season but never played for the Kyushu sunflowers.
- Patrick Vieira (21) greets Japan goodbye and is back to his homeland. You didn't miss anything, as he is only a namesake of the former French star footballer who has retired and is now coaching Manchester City's youth team. He is a young Brazilian forward, who came to Yokohama FC to play on a loan deal from Brazilian giants Palmeiras midway through last season. He was mostly used as a sub and scored once for his team, in a 5-1 win over Avispa.