Andres Iniesta has made his next move official, signing with J1 League side Vissel Kobe. He's undoubtedly one of the J League's greatest imports, so in his honor, we've decided to assemble a list of the 18 best foreign players in J League history.
The curtain has come down on club football for the season and the World Cup is just around the corner. But football never ends. Not really. Now, we get to start speculating about transfers.
Serie A has always attracted envious glances. Clubs in Italy have players of the highest calibre and, with certain teams not able to measure up financially to their Spanish and English counterparts, selling these assets is an essential part of balancing the books.
So which potential Serie A transfers should you be following closely this summer?
Alisson (AS Roma)
This is a test of the Cristiano Ronaldo Transfer Alert System. Do not panic, this is only a test. If this becomes an actual Cristiano Ronaldo transfer, we will provide further instructions about what to do.
In this week's installment of "Dropping Bombs Casual AF," Cristiano Ronaldo hinted that he may soon leave Real Madrid. Speaking with reporters immediately after the Champions League final, he said, "Now to enjoy, and in the next few days I will give an answer to the fans that they are on my side. It was very nice to be in Madrid."
Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived in Los Angeles last week and has wasted no time in reaching peak levels of Zlatanocity.
To start, there was the full-page, five-word ad he took out in the LA Times to announce his arrival. Then there was his first training session with the club, during which he had to be dragged away from shooting practice so that he might remain fresh for this Saturday's LA derby.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is coming to MLS. After previously stating that his aim was to eclipse Napoleon by crossing the Atlantic and conquering the States, the Swedish striker is now en route to Los Angeles and aiming for a spectacular debut on March 31 against LAFC (“El Tráfico”) at an already sold out StubHub Center.
Colombian forward Jackson Martinez was one of the first Europe-based players to make a lucrative move to China. The former Porto and Atletico Madrid player was snapped up by Guanzhou Evergrande for an amount of money that seemed like far too much at the time.
A 23rd season of Major League Soccer will kick off with a record 23 clubs on Saturday. The league continues to grow in both number of teams and amount of money being spent on players. An increase in allocation money has made for a busy offseason and the new 2018 MLS signings will have an outsized impact on the upcoming campaign.
OK, this is getting a little crazy. Toronto, coming off probably the best season in MLS history in 2017, keeps getting better. The latest Toronto FC signing, midfielder Ager Aketxe, gives the Reds one of the scariest lineups in all of North America and they could blow away what the team accomplished last season.
Zyen Jones, a 17-year-old forward, is set to become the latest American to move to Germany in search of playing time he can’t find in the U.S. Jones, who went on trial with Schalke in January, will move from Atlanta United’s academy to Schalke’s U-19 team when he turns 18 in August.