Jay

Football fan, mainly follow La Liga, Bundesliga and J-League.

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl @berger_pj Seems pretty likely a big factor in this is Jens Wissing who he worked with at PSV - if only he'd stayed at Gamba! (Also not sure it won't be accepted, has disappointed relative to the fee though think he could be much better under Adi Hutter)

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@R_by_Ryo Guess we'll see if Bolton are 'middling' - but seems a good fit. As an aside, their sporting director is Ferghal Harkin who knows Belgium well, in fact he signed Hayao Kawabe for Standard Liege
https://t.co/GtDZ7PJK24

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl @alexcobra11 OTOH if Gent are going to insist on full MV (€ 2.5m) then it might be that some interested clubs are priced out given he's already 28 etc (this happened to Haruya Fujii - though not sure he tried that hard to stay in Europe) but he'd do well for e.g. a middling Championship team

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@R_by_Ryo Would actually be pretty funny if he turns out better than the flop that was Gonzalo Pacienca, on the face of it a much better version of the same player & now back in Portugal banging them in every week (said he wasn't really fit enough at Sanfrecce having joined midseason tbf)

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@R_by_Ryo Playing in front of Yengi at Aberdeen: guy who couldn't really cut it at Millwall (acceptable but remember the standard for Sanfrecce is Yuki Ohashi who is p good in the Champ), guy who couldn't score a single goal in the MLS & a guy on loan from the Swiss second tier, promising!

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@R_by_Ryo Sorry misread that lol but hard to see him or Haller playing as one of the withdrawn forwards in that system, Haller seems like he can do a job holding it up for those around him to score even if he doesn't get many himself, maybe they think Yengi can do the same

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@R_by_Ryo at Portsmouth which was years ago now). Not sure they're not over extrapolating from his brother actually who may not have seemed much but had really good underlying stats at Livingston - but may make sense as a punt on an inexpensive backup for Haller

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@R_by_Ryo Completely different type of player and would ostensibly be a huge downgrade - can't imagine Suzuki not being one of the best players at Aberdeen let alone not making the squad (may not suit the league etc but this guy seems to be being signed on the basis of a few good months...

[⚽️ Ryo 🇯🇵 @R_by_Ryo]

Goalkeeper radar comparison: Dibu vs. Zion Suzuki, last season. (From today's @TheTransferFlow newsletter)

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

Still available on a free & apparently hasn't got the offers he might've expected as one of the best players in Bel last season - said to be weighing a return to J with FC Tokyo involved (he might prefer that to a sideways move but should be more interest as the window goes on)

[𝑻𝒊𝒎𝑿𝟕 @TimX7_official]

„Ablösefreies Schnäppchen“
Ryotaro Ito (28/🇯🇵/6 Mio/2026)
Ryotaro Ito ist ein technisch hochbegabter japanischer Mittelfeldspieler, der derzeit bei St. Truiden in der belgischen Pro League unter Vertrag steht. Sein Vertrag läuft in zwei Tagen aus, was ihn zu einem besonders spannenden Kandidaten macht. Er gilt als klassischer Spielmacher, der seine Stärken vor allem zwischen den gegnerischen Linien hat und durch ein starkes Passspiel, enge Ballführung und einen guten Abschluss glänzt. Seine größte Waffe ist seine Kreativität, mit der er das Spiel schnell beschleunigen und Torgefahr erzeugen kann. In der vergangenen Saison konnte er 10 Tore und 6 Vorlagen sammeln. Es gibt bereits Gerüchte über ein Interesse von Borussia Mönchengladbach und dem HSV.

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl @DobbyFortune That sponsorship fell through late last year - probably not much of a factor anyway as even if they were paying say €1m over market rate, a €17m fee invested could earn more than that each year. Maybe they'll soften later in the window as he'll soon be a depreciating asset

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl @alexcobra11 OTOH if Gent are going to insist on full MV (€ 2.5m) then it might be that some interested clubs are priced out given he's already 28 etc (this happened to Haruya Fujii - though not sure he tried that hard to stay in Europe) but he'd do well for e.g. a middling Championship team

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl @alexcobra11 Just conjecture but he might be looking for another move within Europe - didn't get much of a look in after the change in coach so he's likely known for months he'd probably be moving. If he wanted to go back to J, especially Urawa, it surely would've been completed v quickly

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl Not a big deal at all of course but just looked up a random SPFL player on Transfermarkt & noticed it separates the regular league games from the split (i.e. the last five league games of the season) & remembered this, think you've not included those games in these numbers

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl Some of these are too low for whatever reason - Daizen is closer to 150 league apps and should be first (obviously if you're also counting cups then it'll be something nearer 200)

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@R_by_Ryo Would make a lot of sense to go for Rui Araki now imo - already a huge outlier (albeit based on a small sample size) & is physically imposing, even if Gamba were to insist on a reasonable fee of 4/5m Euros, which they should but probably won't, he could be sold for much more

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl @mcgrathmike Guess he was wrong and Mike was right lol - apparently likely could've held out for a PL move but would rather go to PSV at this point (probably the best choice tbh). Also apparently for considerably less than NEC could've got in winter, though they knew that could happen

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@JapaneseFbl @mcgrathmike Isn't this likely just rehashing Dutch reports which are conflicting but a local NEC journalist is saying that it's far from done yet and Leeds/Forest are still very much interested (wasn't he initially also seen by PSV as a Veerman replacement? he's currently still at the club)

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

Was wondering what'd happen to Motherwell this season as it seemed they genuinely signed players orientated to a game model disregarding a lot of the attributes people say are ostensibly needed for Scottish football - & last year they had a coach completely aligned to that vision

[jucojames @jucojames]

Jens Berthel Askou was the lead actor in the 2025-2026 Motherwell movie but the director/producer, Nick Daws, staying meant the chances of continuity high.

Over indexing on importance of head coaches example # infinity.

Doesn't mean they aren't important just much less

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@R_by_Ryo Yeah, probably going to be increasingly important to try to take the initiate on things like this and get ahead of others - Keigo Shimokawa of Melbourne Victory listed, wonder if @scout_aussie knows him?

[Jay @RobsonPonteFC]

@ETimsNet Agreed - and they were also brought in relatively early rather than waiting until the last week (or even the last day) of the window and hoping things fall into place, the market has changed and that approach won't work anymore in so far as it ever did