So, there we were, having a look in the Japanese media to see what Yosuke Ideguchi is getting up to, given he hasn’t been on a football pitch for Cultural Leonesa since February, and an interview popped up with the Leeds United owned player.
There’s nothing unusual in that, Ideguchi is a star in the country, having played for Japan’s national team, and his move to Leeds United, and then Spain, has received a lot of attention, even if it has turned into something of a disaster.
What may be more unusual is that he was speaking to 週刊プレイボーイ (Weekly Playboy). It’s not a direct part of the US edition, but along the same sort of theme.
The magazine introduces Ideguchi as having signed for Leeds and gone to Spain so he can get a work permit for England. It’s explained things aren’t going very well, and the player is ‘anxious’ ahead of the World Cup.
On not getting minutes at Cultural, the player explained: “There are a lot of players who can only speak Spanish, sometimes it feels there’s a wall of words, and then of course it’s stressful.
“However it’s important to show your level in training, and I do not feel like I’m losing out to the players in the same position, so now I just prepare to be 100% for when I’m next used.”
On why he had to leave Japanese football, Ideguchi said that when playing for the national team he’d return to domestic football country and feel it was of a low quality, and wasn’t feeling right anymore: “If you’re not challenged, you have to go abroad soon.”
Asked if the Leeds and then Cultural moves were too much risk in a World Cup year, Ideguchi said: “My goal is not just the World Cup, the most important thing is to play abroad until I retire.”
