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Yu Hirakawa - OFFICIALLY SIGNED


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5 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I’m sure he is.

However he’s changing continents, coming to a country where he doesn’t speak a word of the language & will miss a couple of weeks of valuable pre season time because of the Olympics.

I think he’s going to need a significant amount of time to settle in & despite the mentally challenged calling him a “superstar” already, this lad isn’t a full international yet.

To me he looks from the clips to be a very similar player to Mark Sykes, which is fine by me, but he’s a hard working team player, not some individual game changer.

He had an Aussie team mate at Machida so I think he’ll know at least one word of English. . . The important one 

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5 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Where did you get this from? not seen it mentioned although may be correct, his interview was in Japanese but maybe the English he has learnt he did not feel is good enough to want to speak in a interview

Mention here of English lessons….https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/yu-hirakawa-bristol-city-words-9397902

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, fly in the air said:

how much do we have to pay if he becomes permanent anyone know 

I don't think anyone does & unless @Corsham Alf or @cheddarwedlocker have the skinny then we'll probably have to look to Ian Gay for something which may or may not be accurate (even if he is repeating his source verbatim).

I'd at least hope we have the upper hand in this 'view to a permenant signing' thing, in that he can't just use it as a shop window to access clubs higher up the chain, and we lose out.

It might just be as simple as giving him a get out if he can't cope with the cultural change, which I'd be fine wiyh.

Edited by Sleepy1968
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25 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I’m sure he is.

However he’s changing continents, coming to a country where he doesn’t speak a word of the language & will miss a couple of weeks of valuable pre season time because of the Olympics.

I think he’s going to need a significant amount of time to settle in & despite the mentally challenged calling him a “superstar” already, this lad isn’t a full international yet.

To me he looks from the clips to be a very similar player to Mark Sykes, which is fine by me, but he’s a hard working team player, not some individual game changer.

I've just watched the "first day" video above and I may have missed some audio and visual context as I'm outdoors in a noisy city cafe but he certainly has a few words of English and appears to be understanding the medical staff's instructions.

I love how he didn't know he was getting number 7. They hand him his away shirt with Hirakawa 7 on the back and he turns it around and his face lights up, "Seven?!" 

 

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2 minutes ago, Porto Red said:

I've just watched the "first day" video above and I may have missed some audio and visual context as I'm outdoors in a noisy city cafe but he certainly has a few words of English and appears to be understanding the medical staff's instructions.

I love how he didn't know he was getting number 7. They hand him his away shirt with Hirakawa 7 on the back and he turns it around and his face lights up, "Seven?!" 

 

Yeah that was a great moment! And yes he did speak basic English. 

We need to make him feel really welcome I think so he settles in well, probably more so than your usual player. 

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5 minutes ago, Porto Red said:

I've just watched the "first day" video above and I may have missed some audio and visual context as I'm outdoors in a noisy city cafe but he certainly has a few words of English and appears to be understanding the medical staff's instructions.

I love how he didn't know he was getting number 7. They hand him his away shirt with Hirakawa 7 on the back and he turns it around and his face lights up, "Seven?!" 

 

True, I was basing it on the initial interview where all his answers were in Japanese.

He can clearly speak a little bit (far more than I can Japanese) but will certainly want to improve it.

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34 minutes ago, Sleepy1968 said:

I don't think anyone does & unless @Corsham Alf or @cheddarwedlocker have the skinny then we'll probably have to look to Ian Gay for something which may or may not be accurate (even if he is repeating his source verbatim).

I'd at least hope we have the upper hand in this 'view to a permenant signing' thing, in that he can't just use it as a shop window to access clubs higher up the chain, and we lose out.

It might just be as simple as giving him a get out if he can't cope with the cultural change, which I'd be fine wiyh.

Cant imagine it will be much more than comp - as piercy mentioned we are paying over the amount to ensure no one else came in for him etc. 

@Davefevswill have a more accurate calculation of the comp that we would of been paying - with the loan fee and premium on top of that.

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42 minutes ago, One Team said:

Yeah that was a great moment! And yes he did speak basic English. 

We need to make him feel really welcome I think so he settles in well, probably more so than your usual player. 

OK folks; if you meet Yu, Konichi Wa = hello.

Gomen Nasai, wakarimasen Nipon = I am so sorry, I do not speak Japanese

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4 hours ago, Baldyman said:

I’d go back to bed for a bit and start the day again if I were you Samo ! Totally unknown quantity , yes, but let’s have a bit of optimism . 

That was his optimism!

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5 hours ago, LondonBristolian said:

I like it but I refuse to buy anything white as I know full well that I’d throw food down it within three seconds of purchase!

That's OK; you can customise the shirt. After all it all ready comes cream coloured and has burgundy cuffs. Ketchup and mustard might add to this design.

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1 hour ago, Porto Red said:

I've just watched the "first day" video above and I may have missed some audio and visual context as I'm outdoors in a noisy city cafe but he certainly has a few words of English and appears to be understanding the medical staff's instructions.

I love how he didn't know he was getting number 7. They hand him his away shirt with Hirakawa 7 on the back and he turns it around and his face lights up, "Seven?!" 

 

Also another “aww” moment when he introduced himself to one of the staff “hi, my name is Yu” like everyone in the building wasn’t already aware 😅

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I think there was some talk about Yu looking serious in the interview. I think that's just a cultural difference, and the Japanese have a more formal attitude to these things.

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1 hour ago, TheCulturalBomb said:

View to a permanent transfer is a little worrying, he has a sub par season and doesn't adapt personally he's going back with his tail between his legs. But hopefully we have a new star on our hands for the next few years! 

I think that is exactly why he has been signed on loan. To see if both sides are a good fit. It’s hard enough for northern lads to adapt to the West Country let alone one from Japan. 

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1 hour ago, cheddarwedlocker said:

Cant imagine it will be much more than comp - as piercy mentioned we are paying over the amount to ensure no one else came in for him etc. 

@Davefevswill have a more accurate calculation of the comp that we would of been paying - with the loan fee and premium on top of that.

I’ve been pouring through FIFA docs over lunch.  As the J1-League appears to start in Feb, there’s a chance that as his 23rd birthday (03.01.2001) fell into “last season”, then Machida are not entitled to any compo.  Playing with dates on the FIFA website calculator, that concurs with £0 amount returned.

So with James Piercy suggesting that although season long loan reported, the intention is for make perm in January…it feels more like getting some form of pre-contract arrangement in place.

It’ll all come out in the wash in January, if not before…either because he is a superstar and we want do get it sorted quickly, or the opposite.

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Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Pugofwar said:

Why is Messi the benchmark? Why is it a problem that he doesn't have much international experience? Bristol City don't typically sign experienced internationals. How about we enjoy signing a player we don't know much about, and hope that he's an improvement on what we already have.

Messi isn’t the benchmark, pal; I was being hyperbolic - calm down.

And it isn’t the international experience but the LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE; he’s played 60 games in a league players from Europe retire to, and didn’t set it alight - forgive me but when I watched us last year we didn’t lack young, potential-rich players, we lack experience and nous; my point being that as exciting as he might be, we’ve signed plenty like this before (Engvall etc) who haven’t made it, and returning to that kind of ‘long shot’ approach doesn’t appeal to me.

I sincerely and truthfully hope he sets the Gate ablaze and is a great player for us, and I’ll watch the Olympic football for once now, but let’s not fool ourselves into the kind of galaxy brained thinking that led Mark Ashton to basically bankrupt us via accumulating lottery ticket players who amounted to nothing.

Edited by samo II
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1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

I’ve been pouring through FIFA docs over lunch.  As the J1-League appears to start in Feb, there’s a chance that as his 23rd birthday (03.01.2001) fell into “last season”, then Machida are not entitled to any compo.  Playing with dates on the FIFA website calculator, that concurs with £0 amount returned.

So with James Piercy suggesting that although season long loan reported, the intention is for make perm in January…it feels more like getting some form of pre-contract arrangement in place.

It’ll all come out in the wash in January, if not before…either because he is a superstar and we want do get it sorted quickly, or the opposite.

No doubt Tinnion we tell us soon 🙈

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1 hour ago, 22A said:

OK folks; if you meet Yu, Konichi Wa = hello.

Gomen Nasai, wakarimasen Nipon = I am so sorry, I do not speak Japanese

Purosesu - Processes

Kodo - Behaviours

Saidai no bubun - The biggest bit

watashi no hamusutoringo- My hamstring!

That should see him through the first few weeks.

 

 

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22 minutes ago, Henry said:

Is it normal for us to sign a player who the manager hasn’t even met?

Its a shame Jon Lansdown or Brian Tinnion wasn’t there to welcome him to the club.

Not normally, but I’d say that the meeting to understand “character” is less relevant when one of the protagonists can’t speak English particularly well (tries not to make Tinnion gag) so it doesn’t do as much harm here as long as there have been video/zoom calls. I’d imagine him and Liam have been in contact on a few occasions.

 

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9 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I’ve been pouring through FIFA docs over lunch.  As the J1-League appears to start in Feb, there’s a chance that as his 23rd birthday (03.01.2001) fell into “last season”, then Machida are not entitled to any compo.  Playing with dates on the FIFA website calculator, that concurs with £0 amount returned.

So with James Piercy suggesting that although season long loan reported, the intention is for make perm in January…it feels more like getting some form of pre-contract arrangement in place.

It’ll all come out in the wash in January, if not before…either because he is a superstar and we want do get it sorted quickly, or the opposite.

I've missed this? Got a link?

 

 

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22 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I’ve been pouring through FIFA docs over lunch.  As the J1-League appears to start in Feb, there’s a chance that as his 23rd birthday (03.01.2001) fell into “last season”, then Machida are not entitled to any compo.  Playing with dates on the FIFA website calculator, that concurs with £0 amount returned.

So with James Piercy suggesting that although season long loan reported, the intention is for make perm in January…it feels more like getting some form of pre-contract arrangement in place.

It’ll all come out in the wash in January, if not before…either because he is a superstar and we want do get it sorted quickly, or the opposite.

How can it be a season long loan if his contract expires in Jan? 

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3 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Says for the duration of the 24/25 season on our site? 

Probably getting too hung up on this.

Yu is coming to a new country/culture/league and there is no guarantee he’ll settle. It’s therefore in all parties interest that he has a get out if it all goes wrong. 
 

His contract is up in January, but in order to “officially” be on loan all season he needs to have a contract with his old club until the end of our season. So, it’s likely what we have here is that he’s got a “paper” extension with them until the end of our season - which also means that if it goes wrong here he can immediately rejoin his old club as still under contract (or he’d have no parent club post January)

It seems to me to be a technical point as to how they’ve been able to structure it as a loan as opposed to anything to worry about.

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4 hours ago, MythikRobins said:

His most difficult task won’t be on the pitch, it’ll be learning English and then attempting to understand what Naismith and Murray are saying.

Same as the rest of the squad then!

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15 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Says for the duration of the 24/25 season on our site? 

Hirakawa will wear the No7 shirt for the Robins after agreeing a move to the West Country initially on loan before making the deal permanent in January.

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3 hours ago, Wade Wilson said:

He had an Aussie team mate at Machida so I think he’ll know at least some words of English. . . The important ones 

" On me 'ed son"!

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12 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Probably getting too hung up on this.

Yu is coming to a new country/culture/league and there is no guarantee he’ll settle. It’s therefore in all parties interest that he has a get out if it all goes wrong. 
 

His contract is up in January, but in order to “officially” be on loan all season he needs to have a contract with his old club until the end of our season. So, it’s likely what we have here is that he’s got a “paper” extension with them until the end of our season - which also means that if it goes wrong here he can immediately rejoin his old club as still under contract (or he’d have no parent club post January)

It seems to me to be a technical point as to how they’ve been able to structure it as a loan as opposed to anything to worry about.

Not really. Poor communication again. 

I get all what you say and thats probably true but we're once again left to fill in the blanks. 

Do we have any cast iron guarantees that if we want to make it a permanent transfer we can? Because "with a view to a permanent transfer" doesn't really suggest that? 

 

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7 minutes ago, CiderJar said:

I love how genuinely thrilled he was to be given the number 7.

image.png.9c1a489f0de5d71ccba38adc088f0d9d.png

'Like many countries throughout the world, Japan considers the number seven lucky. This is not imported, but steeped in the country’s religious traditions. Seven is an important number in Buddhism. Japanese Buddhists celebrate a baby’s seventh day and mourn the seventh day after a person dies when the soul is said to cross over'.

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48 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Probably getting too hung up on this.

Yu is coming to a new country/culture/league and there is no guarantee he’ll settle. It’s therefore in all parties interest that he has a get out if it all goes wrong. 
 

His contract is up in January, but in order to “officially” be on loan all season he needs to have a contract with his old club until the end of our season. So, it’s likely what we have here is that he’s got a “paper” extension with them until the end of our season - which also means that if it goes wrong here he can immediately rejoin his old club as still under contract (or he’d have no parent club post January)

It seems to me to be a technical point as to how they’ve been able to structure it as a loan as opposed to anything to worry about.

I can only hope it’s that simple.

33 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Not really. Poor communication again. 

I get all what you say and thats probably true but we're once again left to fill in the blanks. 

Do we have any cast iron guarantees that if we want to make it a permanent transfer we can? Because "with a view to a permanent transfer" doesn't really suggest that? 

 

Is a perfectly valid question.

And you’re right, us inquisitive bastards are left to ask questions and / or fill in gaps.  They don't have to tell us, that’s their prerogative though.  But recent attempts to cover-up stuff leaves us wary.

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12 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I can only hope it’s that simple.

Is a perfectly valid question.

And you’re right, us inquisitive bastards are left to ask questions and / or fill in gaps.  They don't have to tell us, that’s their prerogative though.  But recent attempts to cover-up stuff leaves us wary.

Fevs do you know the answer to this?

When you register a loan with FIFA, does it need to be "anchored" to a primary contract? 

If so, and assuming we've registered Hirakawa for the entirety of 24/25, then how is that second half of the season "anchored" at the moment, currently he will be a free agent in early 2025 right?

Or is the answer that every "season long loan" is actually registered with FIFA as first a block to 31 January, then re-registered from 1 Feb?

See what I am getting at?

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This may have been asked but without scrolling through everything…

He is coming to us mid-season in Japan, going to the Olympics, and then to us once they are eliminated.

Assuming he will need a break at some point, and on the success of the Japan team, when are we realistically going to see him? Or will it be straight from the Olympics in to action for us?

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10 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

This may have been asked but without scrolling through everything…

He is coming to us mid-season in Japan, going to the Olympics, and then to us once they are eliminated.

Assuming he will need a break at some point, and on the success of the Japan team, when are we realistically going to see him? Or will it be straight from the Olympics in to action for us?

The Japanese J-League season only started at the end of February so he wouldn’t need a break after Japan are knocked out. 
 

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24 minutes ago, Betty Swallocks said:

The Japanese J-League season only started at the end of February so he wouldn’t need a break after Japan are knocked out. 
 

Yes indeed, their last game is on 8th December. So maybe the loan arrangement is to the end of their season rather than ours? Who knows?

https://www.flashscore.co.uk/team/machida-zelvia/CUSC1dab/fixtures/

I wish them well against Avispa Fukuoka in September.

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49 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Fevs do you know the answer to this?

When you register a loan with FIFA, does it need to be "anchored" to a primary contract? 

If so, and assuming we've registered Hirakawa for the entirety of 24/25, then how is that second half of the season "anchored" at the moment, currently he will be a free agent in early 2025 right?

Or is the answer that every "season long loan" is actually registered with FIFA as first a block to 31 January, then re-registered from 1 Feb?

See what I am getting at?

Firstly I found the doc with the FIFA season calendar:

image.thumb.png.5b030070b61939303b652f6866a6a40b.png

which confirms no Compo due as this J-League season is one in which his 24th birthday falls and FIFA Compo is 23 and under.

Heres the FIFA section:

image.thumb.png.44af74fd73103f9413270bed7dca071b.png

It appears possible that at the end of a loan it is permissible for the player to not be under contract at the loaning club, but the example given seems to imply that the loan end is at the point of contract expiry not beyond it.

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12 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Firstly I found the doc with the FIFA season calendar:

image.thumb.png.5b030070b61939303b652f6866a6a40b.png

which confirms no Compo due as this J-League season is one in which his 24th birthday falls and FIFA Compo is 23 and under.

Heres the FIFA section:

image.thumb.png.44af74fd73103f9413270bed7dca071b.png

It appears possible that at the end of a loan it is permissible for the player to not be under contract at the loaning club, but the example given seems to imply that the loan end is at the point of contract expiry not beyond it.

That probably plays to my logic.

It can’t be a loan with an option/obligation to buy as the contract is up at the end of the loan period - there is nothing to sell at that point.

However, as in the above example the loan expiry is at the end of the contract expiry - meaning that Yus prior club have as a minimum likely to hold an option on extending his “parent” contract for six months to keep our loan valid.

What that also says - as it’s a loan contract with by logic no option - that I would surmise that we have no “hold” over Yu at the end of his loan, other than a “gentleman’s agreement”

So, my reading is:

- Loan deal with fee paid to prior club

- Prior club either hold option or have extended deal to end of our season

- As Yu has no formal “contract” with his club at the end of the loan, no obligation/ ability to enforce purchase

And then that plays to Piercys indication that we’ll look to make permanent after five months, as at that point there is another club to interact with (at least on paper) as opposed to Yu being a free agent.

Therefore, I think this gets made permanent in January or there is a fair chance of it not happening at all. Because either he’ll have done well and be a free agent with other suitors, or he’ll have done poorly/not settled and want to go home as a free agent.(Or obviously done average!)

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2 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Not really. Poor communication again. 

I get all what you say and thats probably true but we're once again left to fill in the blanks. 

Do we have any cast iron guarantees that if we want to make it a permanent transfer we can? Because "with a view to a permanent transfer" doesn't really suggest that? 

 

I agree those are all very valid questions. If we don't have any guarantees. He could do really well and others come in for him. 

Hope we get more details.

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Excited by this, J league is a now a good level and many players have done well in Europe. 

 

J league is free on YouTube as are highlights 

He got the assist in this game and Machida has been surprise league leaders so far. 

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1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Firstly I found the doc with the FIFA season calendar:

image.thumb.png.5b030070b61939303b652f6866a6a40b.png

which confirms no Compo due as this J-League season is one in which his 24th birthday falls and FIFA Compo is 23 and under.

Heres the FIFA section:

image.thumb.png.44af74fd73103f9413270bed7dca071b.png

It appears possible that at the end of a loan it is permissible for the player to not be under contract at the loaning club, but the example given seems to imply that the loan end is at the point of contract expiry not beyond it.

Cheers for doing the leg work. I agree the assumption seems to be that when a loan ends it is either a) extended, b) made permanent or c) ended and the player returns to the home club.

There is no indication of a d) player becomes free agent.

I agree with @Silvio Dante in his subsequent post. 

I think this is likely a formal deal until end of Yu's Machida contract, with a bunch of understandings and gentleman's agreements in place to cover the second half of the season. Those might be written down, they might not.

Whatever it is, it's far from a "normal" UK/Europe based arrangement. 

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9 hours ago, Davefevs said:

@petehinton that’s the guy I suggested that you contact.

That’s the second verse.  Nice!

It’s one of those really simple well known songs you can fun with as many on here have already mentioned now:

”His land and pubs the Rising Sun,

We’re on the Natch and having fun,

Oh baby, Oh baby!”

The second part of the chorus is “to you I guess I’m just a clown”. I wonder what shirt designing CEO that line could rhyme with?! 😂

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