Persib Bandung are ramping up their preparations for the 2022/23 season by selecting a midfielder for their AFC player slot. Two Japanese players, one South Korean, and one Filipino are set to arrive in Bandung to impress Persib head coach Robert Rene Alberts and his coaching staff, with only one of them earning a spot in the Maung Bandung squad.
Following finishing second in the 2021/22 Liga 1 Indonesia season and earning themselves a ticket to the AFC Cup qualifiers, Persib have been busy in the transfer market in acquiring new talents for their star-studded squad. The likes of Rachmat Irianto, Ricky Kambuaya, David Rumakiek, Fitrul Dwi Rustapa, and Ciro Alves have been signed by the Maung Bandung, while players such as Victor Igbonefo and Achmad Jufriyanto have received new contracts for the upcoming season.
With both David da Silva and Nick Kuipers set to stay in Bandung, Persib have completed three out of their four foreign player slots. The Maung Bandung only need to sign an AFC player to complete their quota and the club seeks to recruit a new Asian midfielder to further reinforce the engine room.
Persib head coach Robert revealed to Sindonews that the club is set to accept four Asian players on trial to see whether they’re good enough for the team or not. One out of the four will be signed by the club if he impressed Robert and his fellow coaches enough, but there’s a possibility that Persib won’t sign any of them.
“Two from Japan, one from South Korea, and one Filipino international,” Robert told Sindonews, “We have four Asian players coming here for a trial with us. One of the players is already here, in Bandung, he’s Japanese and has played in Europe before, while the Filipino international will come next week.”
The Japanese player in question is Ryohei Miyazaki, who was on the books of newly-relegated Serbian second-tier side OFK Backa Backa Palanka. Miyazaki had played in Southeast Asia before with Malaysian third-tier side Melawati FC in the abolished 2020 season, but he has mostly spent his career either in his native Japan, Poland, or the United States.
During his time in Japan, Miyazaki had turned out for Iwaki FC in the 2016 Fukushima Prefectural Football League Division 2 season and it was at that time he met current Persija Jakarta player Hanif Sjahbandi, who was on trial at the club.
“I knew Persib from Hanif. He told me that they’re one of the best clubs in Indonesia,” Miyazaki said, as quoted from Bolasport, “They have a huge, passionate fanbase. I must do my best for them.”
An excited Miyazaki was seen attending Persib’s first training session of pre-season, alongside a number of new signings such as Fitrul, David, Eriyanto, and Persib academy graduates Arsan Makarin and Satrio Azhar.
As Miyazaki tries his best in impressing Robert and the other Persib coaches, rumors are rife about the identity of the other three players. Nakhon Ratchasima Mazda’s Filipino midfielder Dylan de Bruycker has been linked with the Maung Bandung, as was another Thai League alumni in Udon Thani FC’s South Korean midfield general Lim Chang-gyoon.
Regardless of who will come, the Persib coaching staff will have to work hard in selecting the perfect player for the upcoming campaign, to ensure that the Maung Bandung would not only clinch their first league title since 2014, but also do well in the Asian stage.