JAPANESE CLUB SIGN BRAZILIAN FORWARD ON A PERMANENT BASIS

Japanese outfit HCMC Football Club have completed the permanent signing of Brazilian striker Junior Barros. The forward becomes the most recent foreign player to be moving to be Japanese league after his contract with Ventforet Kofu ended. Before moving to the Japanese J1 League, Barros used to ply his trade in his native Brazil but decided to join Kofu back in 2017. He then decided to leave the club after Kofu were confirmed to be dropping to the Japanese J2 league back in 2018.

He remained the club’s striker until his contract ran out earlier this February. During his stint at Kofu, Barros scored a total number of seventeen goals. He is now joining HCMC as a free agent after his contract expired at Kofu. German football site Transfermarkt value the player at €300,000 which is something of a bargain for his new club. Barros is coming to HCMC as a proven goalscorer and a talented forward that promises a lot of goals and has done well at every club he’s been at.

The 27-year-old striker will now join his fellow Brazilian Attackers in the persons of Dário and Joao Paulo and is expected to form a deadly trip with the two of them. His arrival at the club would however come at a cost for another foreign player who will have to be cut off from the squad due to the Japanese V-League rule that states that a club must not register more than three foreign players in their squad.

The player who looks to face the axe is Senegalese striker Papé Diakité and is expected to not feature for the club anymore this season. He however has a lifeline and can still be retained by HCMC in case he is needed at later time in the season. Until then, he will have to play for the club’s youth setup till he is needed.