It's Sugiyama Squirrel

Ardija have on Christmas Day completed the signing from Ventforet Kofu of defender Arata Sugiyama. The 29-year-old has more than 220 J-League appearances to his name, almost all of them with Kofu over the course of the last seven seasons, although he began his career and played a handful of matches at Kashiwa Reysol. The arrival of Sugiyama and of Kazuhiro Murakami - presumably to occupy the two sideback positions - suggests that Omiya will not be pursuing their interest in Yokohama F Marinos' Takanobu Komiyama, or indeed potentially Masato Fujita of Tokyo Verdy.

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