Persib Bandung have completed their foreign player quota for the 2022/23 Liga 1 Indonesia season after they’ve finally captured their Asian player. The Maung Bandung have brought in Philippines international Daisuke Sato into their ranks, with the left-back having garnered plenty of Southeast Asian football experience in Thailand with Muangthong United, Suphanburi FC, and Ratchaburi Mitr Phol.
Born to a Filipino mother and a Japanese father, Sato was a product of the Urawa Red Diamonds youth academy. In 2014, Sato represented Global FC in the Philippines United Football League, before he went off on a European journey in 2016, representing Romanian clubs Politechnica Iasi and Sepsi OSK with a stint at Danish outfit Horsens sandwiched in between.
After leaving Sepsi in 2018, Sato joined Thai giants Muangthong United, clocking up 17 league appearances for the Kirins in a 2-year spell between 2019 and 2021. He then spent the 2021/22 season at two different Thai clubs – Suphanburi in the season’s first half and Ratchaburi in the season’s latter half.
Sato’s presence would surely shore up Persib’s defense – which has lost the likes of Ardi Idrus and captain Supardi Nasir. The 27-year old was tied down on a one-year-long contract that lasts until the end of the season.
Despite being unveiled as a Persib player, Sato was unable to join his new teammates just yet. The left-back is still in Mongolia with the Philippines national team for their 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifying third round matches. That means that Sato won’t make his debut in the ongoing 2022 Piala Presiden, however, he could make his Maung Bandung bow when the 2022/23 Liga 1 season commences this July.