Southampton have announced their sixth signing of the summer with the confirmation of the arrival of Yukinari Sugawara on Sunday morning.
Russell Martin has added yet another defender to his Southampton ranks with the £5.88 million capture of Japan International right-back Yukinari Sugawara.
Of the six signings the Saints have made this summer, five have been defenders.
Charlie Taylor, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Ronnie Edwards and Nathan Wood had already signed prior to Sugawara, meaning veteran Adam Lallana is the only non-defender to sign so far.
Whether Sugawara has been signed to provide for Kyle Walker-Peters or as his replacement amongst links with a move away remains to be seen.
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The Japanese defender has already done his first interview at his new club, though, and showed a sense of humour as he joked about the reason behind choosing to join Southampton.
Yukinari Sugawara says ‘handsome’ Russell Martin reason behind Southampton signing
Eagle-eyed Southampton fans may recognise Sugawara from last summer, as the full-back lined up against the Saints in a pre-season friendly at St Mary’s for AZ Alkmaar.
Sugawara was involved in a moment of controversy in that game, as he appeared to foul Samuel Edozie in the box but the referee decided not to award a penalty in the away side’s 1-0 win.
Now the two players will be team-mates and Sugawara has spoken in a clip posted on the official Southampton ‘X’ account where he revealed the hilarious reason he wanted to join the Saints.
In a post captioned ‘So, Yuki, what attracted you to Southampton?’, the defender replied: “I think [Russell Martin is a handsome guy, you know!”
He went on to add: “He has a good beard and long hair. I want to be like him after my football career, I want to get some beard.”
Following the humour, Sugawara spoke more seriously about the Saints boss, saying: “He’s a really good guy, he’s really kind and he told me about football things and life in Southampton so I have a good feeling with him and I can’t wait to work with him.”
Sugawara’s career statistics so far
Sugawara is very experienced despite being 24, having made the move to Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in 2019 from Nagoya Grampus in his homeland.
Having made the move to the Netherlands after just 25 games senior games in Japan, Sugawara played an impressive 198 games across five years at AZ Alkmaar and actually holds the record for the most games played in Europe in the club’s history with 53.
Like current Southampton full-back Walker-Peters, Sugawara is very attack-minded and scored 14 goals and assisted 29 in his 198 AZ Alkmaar games.
He has been very much a regular for Japan since his debut in 2020 too, making 13 international appearances and scoring one goal.