Takumi Finds Roots
Japanese-Singaporean Grilled Birds trainee Takumi Hirai departed for Shikoku club Imabari city SC today, with the newly-founded Japanese IV.27 side on an extended first wave of recruitment. This had begun with the high-profile purchases of young Portuguese defender Liberto Tendinha, Hungarian forward Tivadar Balogh and Serbian veteran Lazar Jovanović, before progressing with what looks like a grab-bag of international acquisitions by head coach Yuya Imai.
The 17 year-old Takumi would be the latest of those, with the speedy 17 year-old wingback catching Yuya's eye from a sea of prospects. Takumi had been recognized by Wings chief scout Tham Beng Li as having all the tools that a modern attacking fullback could want, including the correct mentality, which made for a rare package.
As for the lad himself, he had also received a firm offer by German VI.733 club MSV1902, but admitted that he preferred a stint in Japan at this stage of his career. "I'm far more used to the culture, which is one less thing to worry about when trying to get established."
Grilled International's divestment of excess personnel would also continue with the departure of 37 year-old Icelandic winger
Snæbjörn Sigfússon to Spanish VIII.274 outfit CDOdena, also on a free transfer. Sigfússon had made 96 appearances and scored 69 goals in close to eight seasons with International, with his only minor regret being unable to make it to a century here.
It was otherwise all looking towards the future for Sigfússon, who will seek to share his experience at the similarly multinational squad that Brazilian boss Christoph Biswal is assembling at CDOdena. He has hit it up with Swiss fellow winger Murat Rothgeb in particular, and will reportedly be bunking with the former Rockets11 star while they get their accommodations sorted.
