The 2018 season was V-Varen Nagasaki's first season in the J1 League after earning promotion from the J2 League in 2017.
Background
V-Varen Nagasaki had finished the previous season in second place and thus earned promotion to the pinnacle of Japanese football, the J1 League. This will be their first ever season competing in the J1 League. The club's first move in preparation for the upcoming season was the signing of experienced FC Tokyo right wingback Yūhei Tokunaga. A couple days later would see the departures of goalkeeper Yuya Miura and midfielder Kenta Furube, while right back Yusuke Murakami retired. On 11 December 2017 it was announced that midfielder Mitsuru Maruoka would return to Cerezo Osaka once his loan concludes in January.
On 22 December, Nagasaki bolstered their attack with the signing of forward Musashi Suzuki from Albirex Niigata. Three days later it was announced that Masato Kurogi, a midfielder from Ventforet Kofu who had already played for Nagasaki in 2014 and 2015, would return to the club. The next day the club announced three signings, including the signing of two goalkeepers: Kenta Tokushige from Vissel Kobe and Takuya Masuda, Nagasaki's starting goalkeeper from 2017 returning to the club on an extended loan from Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Forward Shu Hiramatsu also returned to the club on loan from Albirex Niigata. Again, the next day, the club announced that Spanish midfielder Miguel Pallardó would leave the club.
Squad movement In
PositionPlayerLast clubDateRef Yūhei Tokunaga Tokyo23 November 2017 Takuto Honda Tokai Gakuen University4 December 2017 Ryo Niizato Juntendo University15 December 2017 Shunya Yoneda Juntendo University15 December 2017 Musashi Suzuki Albirex Niigata22 December 2017 Masato Kurogi Ventforet Kofu25 December 2017 Kenta Tokushige Vissel Kobe26 December 2017 Takuya Masuda Sanfrecce Hiroshima (loan)26 December 2017 Shu Hiramatsu Albirex Niigata (loan)26 December 2017
Out PositionPlayerNew clubDateRef Yuya MiuraReleased25 November 2017 Kenta FurubeReleased25 November 2017 Yusuke MurakamiRetired28 November 2017 Mitsuru Maruoka Cerezo Osaka11 December 2017 Miguel PallardóReleased27 December 2017
Player statistics Key
No. = Squad number
Pos = Playing position
Nat. = Nationality
Apps = Appearances
GK = Goalkeeper
DF = Defender
MF = Midfielder
FW = Forward
= Yellow cards
= Red cards
Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute. Players with name struck through and marked left the club during the playing season.
No.Pos.NameJ1 LeagueEmperor's CupTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals1 GK Takuya Masuda 000000002 DF Masakazu Tashiro 000000003 MF Ryutaro Iio 000000004 DF Ryota Takasugi 000000005 DF Daichi Tagami 000000006 MF Yusuke Maeda 000000007 MF Shuto Kono 000000008 FW Yu Kimura 000000009 FW Juanma 0000000010MF Yuji Yabu 0000000013DF Daichi Inui 0000000014MF Teruki Tanaka 0000000015MF Yuzuru Shimada 0000000018MF Masakazu Yoshioka 0000000019FW Takashi Sawada 0000000020MF Keita Nakamura 0000000021GK Masaya Tomizawa0000000022GK Tatsuro Okuda 0000000023DF Fumitaka Kitatani 0000000024MF Ryusuke Hayashida0000000026MF Teppei Usui 0000000028MF Hijiri Onaga 0000000029DF Kensuke Fukuda 0000000035DF Yuki Kagawa 0000000037FW Shu Hiramatsu 00000000—GK Kenta Tokushige 00000000—DF Yūhei Tokunaga 00000000—DF Takuto Honda00000000—MF Masato Kurogi 00000000—MF Ryo Niizato 00000000—MF Shunya Yoneda 00000000—FW Musashi Suzuki 00000000
See also 2018 in Japanese football 2018 J1 League
References