J1 2023 Off Season updates! (Patreon)

Injuries

The spreadsheet has been updated and can be found here.

Koike is confirmed to miss the start of the season. Matsubura will be likely cover. Matsubura is also only in light training though it is expected he will be fit to play for start of season.

We will have the Super Cup before the season starts and that will give key information for YFM expected starters for the opening J1 league game.

Transfers

Though the transfer window runs till 31st March, the vast majority of transfer activity in the J1 league are internal movements between teams when players are coming to the end of a contract.

These type of transfers had to be registered by 1st January 2023.

The only type of transfer than can now happen is when there is a fee involved which are usually international transfers. International transfers can happen all the way to the end of the window hence why the situation of players such as Santana and Gonda remain uncertain.

All confirmed transfers can be found on wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_J1_League_football_transfers_2023

Not all transfers are equal and the squad depths will reflect who I see as potentially starting. I will also be doing a post about the most important transfers in the next week or so.

Recent transfers/rumours:

Yuito Suzuki (Shimizu) to Stratsburg is v likely confirmed in the next day or 2
Soma (Nagoya) to Casa Pia on loan confirmed
Høibråten to Urawa confirmed. He is late arriving to Japan so likely misses start of season
Junior Santos (Hiroshima) to Fortazela
Iwanami (Urawa) to Qatar league - still not confirmed.
Neta Lavi to Gamba Osaka - complications with the fee Said to be very close to completion today
Matuso (Urawa) to move on loan to Jupiler league - waiting for confirmation
Giakoumakis has been heavily linked to a move to Urawa. Reported he has agreed terms. He isnt training & known there is also interest from teams in Europe and MLS.

YFM have received and offer from the MLS for their keeper Takaoka. The team have acknowledged this but nothing confirmed yet on this.
Vissel Kobe are still after a GK, linked to Renan Riberio who is reported to be training with them currently. Uncertain for now if this will lead to a transfer. Phelipe Megiolaro has also been rumoured to have had a trial again no concrete info

Mateus rumoured to be linked to Saudi league transfer. The source isnt that reliable. Mateus is training as normal with the team

Fujita (YFM) rumoured to be linked to a transfer to the Bundesliga. The source here isnt that reliable. Joel is training as normal with the team

No concrete update on Gonda or Santana. Neither have publicly stated they will remain at Shimizu yet either.

Training Camps

Preseason is in full flow. So far, its been about getting the entire squad match fit and have been very casual including the training games where we have seen multiple changes in game.

Nagoya - New signings Nogami (CB) Izumi (LM) and Yonemoto (DCM) have all done well so far in training and the manager has praised all 3 esp for their experience. I can see all being in the running to be starters

Kashima - Antlers have struggled in training games, especially defensively. Again to early to be concerned but it isnt ideal!

Positive notes have been Mooroka and Someno who have impressed. Fujii and Chinen looking good too. 

Hiroshima - Youngster Tanada has impressed and fans see him pushing for a start. Araki back in full training too. Experimenting with 4 at the back and Shichi in particular impressing and can be seen as a 1st team canditate.

Gamba - have been using both Tani and Higashiguchi in public training matches. Usami has also been used in a different & deeper position to usual. 

I have been updating the squad depths charts in general with anything of interest though at this early stage of preseason its important not to give training match too much weighting.

From now on we will be having more serious friendly games and I expect there to be more indicators of who starters will be. 

Sorare Licence and J1 League

There has (frustratingly!) been no update from Sorare on this. We know that negotiations are underway and I am still confident/hopeful that this will get resolved. 

Like with most things, I like to plan for all scenarios. We know that even in the worst case scenario & Sorare dont get the licence, the league will still be covered. I will be exploring the best utility for cards eg threshold/all star/u23/capped etc. I tend to find that when sentiment is low, the best opportunities can arise from research!

If Sorare do get the licence, we can crack open the Sake and celebrate! Also I will be deep diving into un minted cards esp u23s as these can be my favourites to get from auctions

Future Posts

I will be doing a number of posts in the coming weeks including:

• Potential breakout players including youth & transferred players (with cards on Sorare)
• Schedule analysis incl K league
• Capped leagues and threshold update analysis
• End of season league prediction
• Squad analysis (on squad depth spreadsheet)

If there is anything you want to see, just give me a shout on here or Discord!