After months of rumours about the deal, Leeds United made the deal for Yosuke Ideguchi official.
| #LUFC can confirm that a fee has been agreed with @Gamba_Official for the transfer of Japanese International midfielder Yosuke Ideguchi
— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 4, 2018
Read more ➡️ https://t.co/f4fjhl0yyx pic.twitter.com/5TOr2JJC5I
From the club’s official website:
21 year old Ideguchi, who has 10 caps for his national side, will travel to England next week for a medical with a view to completing a permanent move to Elland Road.
As the J1 League ended in early December, it is likely that Leeds United will loan Ideguchi out to Cultural Leonesa until the end of the season should the player pass his medical.
Leeds have been rumoured to be interested in the Japan international for months, with reports coming back in September that a deal was in place for the midfielder. It was also reported in December that Leeds would have to wait until the summer for the player to join up with the first team in England due to work permit issues.
|ÚLTIMA HORA|
— Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (@CyDLeonesa) January 4, 2018
Yōsuke Ideguchi, nuevo jugador de la @CyDLeonesa
Yōsuke Ideguchi joins @CyDLeonesa https://t.co/MigRIizpz3#BienvenidoIdeguchi#WelcomeIdeguchi pic.twitter.com/Og37XNEwvc
We speculated that Ideguchi would end up at Cultural Leonesa, the partner club of Leeds in La Liga 2. Cultural Leonesa is owned by Qatar’s Aspire Academy, and it was announced yesterday that the club has entered into a formal agreement with the state of the art youth Academy. Along with Cultural Leonesa, the Aspire Academy also owns KAS Eupen in Belgium.
He will also join a team with a couple of midfielders that have been playing together for two seasons with the same coach. People actually see him as a perfect replacement for Yeray, who played every single minute of the first 19 games.
— CyD Leonesa English (@CyDLeonesa_en) January 4, 2018
Ideguchi is a good player, and should make an immediate impact at Cultural Leonesa. The Leon based club is looking to survive in La Liga 2, and the impact of the Japan international should help. Of course, it will be interesting to see where the coaches at Cultural end up playing him, but he’s a step up in the quality usually seen at the La Liga 2 level, so they should get it sorted out.
Ideguchi will suit up for Japan at this summer’s World Cup in Russia. He leaves Gamba Osaka having made 95 appearances for the club, scoring 9 goals and registering 10 assists. Here’s wishing him luck in Spain, and we’ll see him next year in England!
MOT