A star fruit of fate will allow Kento Hashimoto, a 28-year-old Japanese footballer, is fulfilling his dream of playing in Spanish football. will do it in the SD Huesca after having to leave Russian FC Rostov due to the war and return to his country to play for Vissel Kobe, where he met Andrés Iniesta and Miguel Ángel Lotina. A network of relationships that paved the way for his signing for a season. The “most European of Japanese footballers”, according to the definition of sporting director Ángel Martin Gonzalezhas already trained this Wednesday with his new teammates.
He is “a player who motivates us all a lot. He can play 6 and 8 without any problem, with work and quality, very complete”, Martín González defined him in the press room of El Alcoraz, where he appeared with the help of a translator diligent who accompanied him in these first steps. Moreover, he is sponsored by fellow countryman and former Barca player Shinji Okazaki. “When I got the offer, I asked him and he told me that the club was doing well and the people were very nice. This is a team that can be an opportunity to move up to the first division” , enjoyed the Japanese.
From the outset, his advantage to perform well this season goes through “A lot of work, a lot of running and reaching the zone I can score a goal. I can help the team win. His childhood dream was to ‘play in Spain’, and from that dream he grew into a complete player who can ‘work hard and get the ball back’. Having finished the Japanese championship in mid-July and participated with his country in the East Asian Cup, he is “a little tired”, but he hopes to regain his best physical condition soon.
When the war started, he was in Russia and had to return to Japan to perform in Vissel Kobe until the end of the course and was protected by FIFA, which also facilitated his one-year contract with SD Huesca despite the fact that he continues to be a footballer for Rostov. During your first contact, Cuco Ziganda He attended it ‘with education and kindness’ and believes Barca’s team style can favor him and contribute to rapid adaptation. Moreover, the offer from the Aragonese club was the first and was steeped in videos from this summer’s friendlies.
The Japanese has worked with the footballers who stay on the pitch and don’t travel for this Wednesday’s friendly match with Nástic de Tarragona at the Nou Estadi Costa Daurada (8:00 p.m., Aragón Deporte). Ziganda has seven first-team players and nine local players for this fixture: they come Andrés, San Román, Gerard Valentín, Jérémy Blasco, Euse Monzó, Ignasi Vilarrasa, Pablo Tomeo, Javi Almerge, Joaquín Muñoz, Juan Carlos Real, Asier Seijo, Pablo Bernárdez, Rubén Fernández, Ruby, David García, Diego Ibáñez and Manu Rico.