You gotta love silly season.
Leeds United have done a lot of work in the five short days since the January transfer window opened up. Finnish youngster Aapo Halme signed on to the u23s. Mallik Wilks, Tyler Denton, and Ouasim Bouy all came back from their loan spells. Yosuke Ideguchi’s transfer was finally confirmed, and he’s been shipped out to our Spanish friends Cultural Leonesa. The Whites linked up with Qatar’s Aspire Academy, which our man Ivan Bravo may know a thing or two about.
Enter day 5.
Herzlich Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
— KAS Eupen (@kas_eupen) January 5, 2018
⚫️⚪️
KAS Eupen verpflichtet Japaner Yuta Toyokawa
La KAS Eupen engage le japonais Yuta Toyokawa
KAS Eupen signs Yuta Toyokawa from Japan: https://t.co/TgQ65PHP8P#kaseupen #newstriker @Aspire_Academy @JPLeagueFR pic.twitter.com/mXq7aH94Fw
KAS Eupen, a Belgian club who is also affiliated with the Aspire Academy, announced that the team has signed Yuta Toyokawa, a striker who played for Japanese second divison club Fagiono Okayama before transferring to Leeds United. Facing the same problems as Yosuke Ideguchi, the Whites shipped him out to Eupen for the rest of the year. He’ll join up with the Pandas training camp in Doha and is expected to play for the club in January after the “completion of all formalities”
The problem? Leeds never signed Toyokawa.
Leeds United say they have not signed striker Yuta Toyokawa despite Eupen’s claim they are loaning him from #lufc
— Adam Pope (@APOPEY) January 5, 2018
Well, this is awkward.
Have Leeds signed a Japanese striker and not told anyone, even employees of the club? Theres some legal ramifications for Eupen if that’s not the case, right? Is Eupen in desperate need of a striker and using its Aspire links the wrong way? Does “completion of all formalities” mean the club is/are convincing Leeds to bring along another Japanese footballer? Toyokawa is two years Ideguchi’s elder, but has yet to break into Japan’s national side. Is this a player we want to be signing? A lot doesn’t make sense right now, only time will tell where this goes.
All Aspire Aren’t We?