What was announced earlier was also officialised today. Japanese youth international Yumeki Yoshinaga put his scribble under a 4.5-year contract at Cegeka Arena.
With the Japanese U17, he won the Asian Cup in which he had a crucial role in the tournament win with three assists in five games. With six asists in 11 matches this season, the Japanese left-back has already shown flashes of his class in his homeland too. It earned him interest from some highly regarded youth sides in Europe and several Japanese first division sides. But KRC Genk's project wore away his preference.
Yumeki will be given time to settle in Genk in the coming months and get to know the player group and playing principles. He immediately joins training at Jong Genk where he will meet his compatriot Kumata. From next season, he will also be entitled to play with the Genk youngsters.
"Left-back is a difficult position internationally to fill qualitatively. With the arrival of Yumeki, we are already anticipating this. He combines an enormous physical presence with great technical baggage and an enormous drive up front. With that, he fits nicely into the line-up of 'backs' already running around Genk today. In our offensive style of play, we expect our flank defenders to help provide the offensive impetus for our team. From next season, we see in him a mainstay for Jong Genk and in the next phase he should compete for a place in the A-core," Stijn Haeldermans, Technical Coordinator at Jong Genk, previously noted.
The entire Genk family wishes Yumeki every success in his promising career.
