On January 19th, Japanese media yahoo sports broke the news of a major transfer: J-League powerhouse Cerezo Osaka's stalwart defender Ayumu Seguro will soon leave for Switzerland to join Grasshopper. In order to fill the vacancy, Osaka Sakura is actively looking for a replacement for Ayumu Seguro, and former foreign aid, now playing for Shanghai Shenhua's Jonic, has been listed as the preferred target.
Cerezo Osaka have reportedly started the process of bringing in Jonic. Sources close to the matter revealed that although there are several center back candidates, Jonic is the team's current focus. Croatian Jonic since joining Osaka Sakura in 2017, only missed one game in four years, becoming the cornerstone of the team's back line, and with outstanding performance, successfully transferred to Shanghai Shenhua early last year. The departure of Ayumu Seguro has left Cerezo Osaka in dire need of a new center back. It is worth mentioning that Seguru Ayumu's joining the team will allow him to join hands with our player Li Lei in Switzerland. Jonic had an eye-catching performance in the recently concluded Chinese Super League, contributing one goal in 18 league games for Shenhua, while playing a key role on the defensive end, averaging 1.1 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, 3.9 breakaways and 0.6 blocked shots.
