Yutaro Oda has become Hearts' second signing of the January transfer window.
The 21-year-old forward joins from Vissel Kobe on a three-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee. A former teammate of Celtic star Kyogo Furuhashi, Oda joins the growing contingent of Japanese players in Scotland after the Hoops also added Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata to their ranks. He won't be the first to don the maroon jersey either. Ryotaro Meshino's loan spell from Manchester City in 2019/2020 set the trend and now Oda is the latest to make the journey from the Far East to play in the Scottish Premiership.
After securing the loan signing of Bournemouth defender James Hill on Monday, Oda becomes the Jambos' second signing of the January window. A third could be hot on his heels in the form of Australian wonderkid Garang Kuol, who's loan switch from Newcastle is expected to be completed in the coming hours or days.
The Gorgie outfit will he hoping Oda's first season in the capital has a happier ending, after Hearts were relegated following the premature shutdown of Scottish football due to the Covid pandemic.
Manager Robbie Neilson said: “I’m really pleased to get Yutaro in as our next signing of this window.
“He’s got a lot of great attributes but the exciting thing is that he’s still young and there will be more to come from him, so we’ve got a huge part to play in developing him. He’s very quick, very direct and technically very good. He’ll bring a lot to the team and we’re all looking forward to working with him.
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