2016/21 Hiroki Sakai | 2020/21 Yuto Nagatomo @ Olympique de Marseille (FR)

Elected player of the season by fans.

https://www.om.net/actualites/382566/hiroki-sakai-votre-olympien-de-la-saison-2018-19

 

Hopefully with this and Japan's recent showing at Toulon, there will be more French scouts interested in Japanese players. The French Ligue is really not a bad league for youngsters to develop, hopefully the likes of Koki Ogawa, etc. can attract a decent offer from a Ligue 1 club after Toulon.

 

Let's hope. Marseille faces a liquidity squeeze, french young talents are becoming increasingly expensive (ex : Guingamp wants 20 M€ for Marcus Thuram), so why not try a japanese ?
Even though Ligue 1 has never been very focused on Asia in general, attitudes can change.

 

Shoji has been performing not bad for his club too. Maybe that will change opinion of French scouts on Japanese players? I hope more guys can play there.

 

Tottenham ? (again)

Hiroki Sakai est l'une des cibles de Tottenham pour remplacer Trippier ou Aurier. Il est le profil de joueur que les Spurs veulent recruter. [Sky Sports] pic.twitter.com/cgdRFLxrOA

— PLFrance_ 🇫🇷 (@PLFrance_) July 16, 2019

He wants to stay at Marseille but his club needs money so who knows...

 

Tottenham just sold Trippier so this is becoming more likely.

 

He truly deserves CL football but I wouldn't mind him staying at Marseille. The love he receives there is incredible.

 

Spurs has a policy against picking up aging players. Llorente was a rare exception. Japanese players have not done that well in EPL.

 

Will our country have a EPL star like Son in my lifetime? I don't think so.

 

Krillin, is that you?

 

Miserable start to the season. Lost 0-2 to Reims. Played 90 mins.

 

Extended his contract until 2022.

✍️ @hi04ro30ki prolonge jusqu’en 2022 ✍️ #Sakai2022 pic.twitter.com/khftjQLe9B

— Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) August 29, 2019

But yesterday, he walked with a limp after the victory against Nice (1-2).
Let's see if he's called-up by Moriyasu.

 

The warrior has been solid as usual. Marseille are currently the second place in the league.

 

Tottenham are after him again. He should stay at OM. Tottenham won't qualify for the CL next season.

Tottenham are exploring right-back transfer targets for January, despite Aurier’s rise under Mourinho.

Spurs are currently interested in Napoli's Elseid Heysaj and Marseille's Hiroki Sakai, who they made contact with in the summer.

[@SkySports] #THFC #COYS pic.twitter.com/RueQU1lczd

— TranSPURS (@TranSPURS) December 31, 2019

 

Sakai to Tottenham always comes up.

 

Marseille's first match of the season against Saint Etienne was postponed due to 4 members from Marseille testing postive COVID-19.

The match was supposed to be the 2020/2021 Ligue 1 season's opener, and was supposed to be played tonight.

Now Marseille will play the MD2 match next weekend as their season's opener.

 

They want to start their season w/o wait for PSG and w/o give Lyon some rest?

 

They already started the season yesterday (Friday). PSG and Lyon will have their MD1 matches rescheduled as well as Marseille vs. Saint-Etienne match.

 

Hiroki Sakai is starting in Marseille's first match of the league:

📋 Le premier 𝗫𝗜 𝗗𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧 de la saison choisi par André Villas-Boas pour #SB29OM ⚔️🔥

🗣 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐙 𝐋'𝐎𝐌 💙#commeunseulOM pic.twitter.com/ubDmMtoqmi

— Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) August 30, 2020

 

Official:


Thread update? @Dax

 

Imagine Sakai on the right and Nagatomo on the left. In a club like Marseille. In CL. I admit it gives me a little hard on

 

https://www.tribalfootball.com/arti...ther-japan-than-premier-league-return-4325153

Remember that AVB said that he wants to manage in Japan in the future. If Nagatomo and Sakai can perform well for him this season, hopefully he might be more willing to look within the J-League for younger and cheaper talents in the future.

Wish there will be more Japanese players in Ligue 1 in future even though it will be quite a stretch

 

Nagatomo posted a video on his YouTube channel talking about his move.


His representatives were contacted a week or two, and he asked Hiroki for advice - his national team colleague told him that the city and club of Marseille are both amazing (mecha mecha ii), which reassured Nagatomo with respect to his family's living situation. He also "thanks" Hiroki for not leaking the news .

He recalls a trip to Marseille during his college career at Meiji University, as part of a Japan national university selection. They played a match against OM's B team, where Yuto scored a terrific goal from distance ("I thought I might even receive an offer from OM on the spot!"). In addition, he was inspired by attending a Ligue 1 match at the Stade Vélodrome, starring stars such as Ribéry and Nasri and references the trip as the moment when he first harbored dreams of playing for a big European clubs - a serendipitous reunion 12 years later.

La belle histoire ✨😍

➡️ En 2007 @YutoNagatomo5 jouait avec les équipes de jeunes de la @jfa_samuraiblue un match amical au centre d’entraînement Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
➡️ Aujourd’hui il s’engage avec l’Olympique de Marseille 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9znzofbaOd

— Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) August 31, 2020