Five years ago, Cerezo Osaka had their best season in club history - a third-place finish in the top flight and a domestic cup double. Last season was a far cry from those heights, as they slipped into mid-table mediocrity a year after a 4th-place finish in the pandemic-interrupted 2020 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE campaign.

Last season

Cerezo fell last season to 12th place, ending a run of top-seven finishes that extended back to 2017, their first year back in J1.

A fast start gave Sakura fans hope but a particularly rough summer took its toll on the club’s league fortunes, with no victories picked up between the beginning of May and the middle of August.

Appearances in the final of the 2021 J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP and semi-finals of the Emperor’s Cup nearly brought silverware to Cerezo, but it was not to be.

Key additions

While Japanese football fans are used to seeing J.League stars head to C.D. Santa Clara, Cerezo’s big signing this season comes the other way as Brazilian Jean Patric joins from the Portuguese Primeira Liga side to bolster the frontline. He will be joined up top by returning striker Bruno Mendes.

Elsewhere, veteran defender Tatsuya Yamashita returns to Cerezo for a third time to fill a void a center back, while Ryosuke Yamanaka comes over from Urawa Reds to provide a step up at left back.

Key departures

Cerezo Osaka lost two young stars in the winter window, with central defender Ayumu Seko headed to Grasshopper Club Zürich and midfielder Tatsuhiro Sakamoto on loan at KV Oostende in Belgium.

Naoyuki Fujita’s departure to Sagan Tosu will also be felt in the midfield, opening up another spot in the center of the pitch, while Yuta Koike heads to Yokohama F·Marinos as their new left back.

Up top, all-time J1 leading goalscorer Yoshito Okubo retired in Cerezo pink at the end of last season. While his form tailed off throughout the season, Okubo’s absence will be felt on and off the pitch.

Goal for 2022

Cerezo want to be back where they were before last season - certainly in the top half of the table and seriously challenging for an AFC Champions League place. Crosstown rivals Gamba are also aiming to bounce back from a down season and both sides of Osaka will be keen to improve with squads that have undergone serious transition.

While Cerezo have a lot of holes in the squad to fill, a top-half finish is a realistic target and an added bonus would be firing further up the table, past an ambitious Gamba rebuild next door.

What to watch for

It will be vital for manager Akio Kogiku and veteran leaders like Takashi Inui and Hiroshi Kiyotake to steer Cerezo through a difficult period of transition, particularly after the loss of their bright young talents in Seko and Sakamoto.

Cerezo’s rearguard took a major step back in 2021, allowing 51 goals a year after conceding just 37. That has to get better if they want to get back among the league’s best - and they will need to do so without one of Japan’s brightest prospects at the heart of defense.

Much of the responsibility for that will fall upon another young defender, 20-year-old Ryuya Nishio. If the Osaka native and academy product can make the leap into more consistently dominant play, Cerezo could rebound faster than anticipated from the loss of Seko. Veteran Yamashita should be a big help in influencing him and a calming presence the team can call on, even if not a regular starter.

Kogiku took over last August and had to cobble things together through the end of the campaign, but now he has his team and a full preseason to drill his system and get the squad on the same page. It may be somewhat of a rebuilding year for Cerezo, but if anyone knows this team inside and out, it’s Kogiku, who started at the club as a youth coach long ago and is now in charge of the first team.