JAKARTA - Persija Jakarta midfielder Ryuji Utomo has reportedly attracted interest from foreign clubs. However, in the midst of this golden opportunity, Macan Kemayoran chose to keep the player to increase the team's strength.
Ryuji is currently playing for Malaysian club Penang FC as a loan player. However, the loan period will end in December.
Ahead of Ryuji's return to the Kemayoran Tiger cage, the midfielder was reportedly eyed by a Japanese second tier club, Jubilo Iwata and a South Korean second tier club, Jeongnam Dragons.
Responding to the interest of two international clubs in one of their players, Persija confirmed that they would no longer release Ryuji out of the cage. Because the Kemayoran Tigers have projected the midfielder to boost the team's performance.
"I think the question of Ryuji Utomo joining or not has been explained because he is a player projected by the team for the second round of Liga 1 2021," said Bambang Pamungkas, quoted from the club's official website.
The Persija manager emphasized that Ryuji was still under a long contract with the Kematoan Tigers. So if there really is an international club interested they should communicate with the club, but so far that hasn't happened.
"From what I know that Ryuji Utomo is a Persija Jakarta player for the next one or two years."
"This means that if there are other clubs that want to use Ryuji Utomo's services, they must communicate with us," explained the manager.
Ryuji himself is actually really needed by Persija to boost performance in the second round of the 2021 Liga 1 series. Because, until the 10th week, the Kemayoran Tigers were still playing inconsistently.
Persija's unsatisfactory appearance was more or less influenced by the composition of the players. Currently they only have three central defenders namely Maman Abdurrahman, Yann Motta and Otavio Dutra. With the presence of Ryuji, of course, Persija's defense will be stronger.
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