BUDAIYA Club yesterday officially announced the signing of Japanese midfielder Keisuke Yamazaki, who will become the first ever Japanese to play in the Bahrain soccer league.
Yamazaki, who flew in earlier last week, featured in a friendly training match for his new club against Muharraq which Budaiya lost 1-2.
Budaiya are presently fourth with nine points from six games in the Bahrain Second Division League, seven points behind leaders Bahrain Club who have 16 points from seven matches.
The top two teams in the second division gain automatic promotion and replace the bottom two teams of the first division at the end of the present season.
Yamazaki, who has played in Japan, Montenegro, Austria and Laos, will be looking to help his new team gain promotion to the first division.
Successful
“I’m happy to be the first Japanese player to play in the Bahrain league. I will do everything I can to make sure it is a successful step in my career,” said the 28-year-old.
Yamazaki started his footballing career when he was five years old at Kyoto Shiko Football Club in Kyoto.
“I know about Bahrain because of the Japanese national team. The two countries have played a couple of times against each other in the World Cup qualifiers. Still, it’s a challenge because I know nothing about the culture or the league here,” said Yamazaki.
Yamazaki said he and his agent see a lot of potential in this deal to improve as a player .
“I got a call from my agent telling me about the offer. The club was really interested and I thought it was a very good chance for me to prove myself here,” he said.
Yamazaki also added that one of his major goals is settling in quickly and helping the club gain promotion.
“I heard Muharraq are one of the best teams in the country and to loose 1-2 against them shows that our team could perform well.
“I’m still unfamiliar with the team, the players don’t know me and I don’t know their style of play. With time this will all fall into place and we can have very good communication between us. It’s important to not only know the style of the player you play with but also his personality,” Yamazaki added.
“I believe we can do it. I believe we can gain promotion to the first division. For me, I deal with it as a must do. I will always put more than 100pc for the team and do my best in the job,” Yamazaki concluded.