Maya Yoshida joined Southampton in 2012 from VVV Venlo and proved to be a good signing for the club, even if he hasn’t been involved as much as he would have liked.
On deadline day of the winter market, the defender’s move to Sampdoria was something of a shock, but was overshadowed by the other transfers on January 31st.
Southampton and the club’s fans wished the player well, knowing that even though the move was technically a loan they wouldn’t be seeing the 31 year old wear the shirt again.
Whilst Sampdoria presented the deal as a loan with an option to buy, Southampton pointed out the move was ‘ahead of his St Mary’s contract expiring in the summer’.
Yoshida was on the bench for the Genoa club as they played Torino at the weekend, a game which Sampdoria won 3-1.
After the match he spoke to the media and was asked about his move from the Premier League club.
Il Secolo XIX quote Yoshida as saying: “Nobody expected me to leave Southampton, the media, teammates, fans staff… I felt good there, but I played little. It was a dilemma. In the end I had the courage to try, and the desire to improve further to go further. Instead of being content to sit on the bench and witness the generational change from there. I would like to play again and be the protagonist of the matches and my career.”
Yoshida is aware he needs to settle quickly so he can convince Sampdoria to sign him on a longer term deal, and added: “I don’t have much time, I have to show my ability in four months, so I have to understand what I have to do.”
