This is a letter sent to Andres Iniesta by Kyogo Furuhashi released by the Japanese media today. I will share the full text in this article as follows…
And here is the translation from Japanese into English…
Dear Andres Iniesta
Thank you for choosing Japan, coming to Japan, and showing me a lot of wonderful plays. Gratitude. I want to say that word to you from the bottom of my heart.
“The goat I had been watching through TV screen is in front of me.” When I joined Vissel Kobe after leaving FC Gifu in July 2018, the moment I saw you felt very strange to me. Your wonderful passes that you freely use long and shorts, and your key pass after dodging opponents by dribbling. I was really looking forward to playing with you, who was leading attack at Barcelona and Spanish national team.
I still vividly remember the game against Gamba Osaka in September 2018, when I scored after receiving a pass from you for the first time. In the first 35 minutes, you sent a very good through pass to my feet. “I have to shoot right away!” At that moment, my body was instinctively reacting to your ball, and I frantically shoot.
The first goal of 49 goals in the three years I played at Kobe was created by the through pass from you. All your passes felt good for me, but your assist in the game against Yokohama FC in June 2021 was the most comfortable for me.
When Andres held the ball, opponent’s defender was standing in front of me. But when I trusted you and waited for your pass while playing backline, you sent me a magnificent lob pass. At that moment, I realised that we believe in each other. Where are you going to send a pass for me, where do you want to send a pass, where I want to move, where I’m trying to move…we were able to be on the same page. I felt the goal was that connecting our dots.
Even after you decided to leave Vissel Kobe, I kept in touch with you as usual, but I couldn’t say “Thank you for your hard work” to you. You had your final game on 1st July. I thought it was rude to say so before that important game to those who continue to stick to winning.
I was really happy to be able to spend three years with you. I don’t know which path you will choose, but please enjoy football purely on the path you decided. I’ll do my best that my name reach to your place in a good sense.
And I hope we can meet again someday, somewhere!
Many thanks
Kyogo Furuhashi
That’s all.
Yatao
Kyogo seems to have handed Celtic’s kit to some former teammates at the stadium yesterday. One of them, Gotoku Sakai, is a player who supported Kyogo’s mental aspect at Vissel Kobe. He loves Gotoku like an older brother, and Kyogo talked to him a lot in training on weekend. pic.twitter.com/OinfyB6f8d
— Yatao (@yataoda4) July 2, 2023
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