Maya Yoshida
Yoshida playing for Japan at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maya Yoshida | ||
| Date of birth | 24 August 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Nagasaki, Japan | ||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Centre back | ||
| Club information | |||
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Current team
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Southampton | ||
| Number | 3 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2001–2006 | Nagoya Grampus | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2007–2009 | Nagoya Grampus | 71 | (5) |
| 2010–2012 | VVV-Venlo | 54 | (5) |
| 2012– | Southampton | 100 | (4) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2008–2012 | Japan U23 | 12 | (1) |
| 2010– | Japan | 73 | (10) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:23, 01 May 2017 (UTC). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2017 |
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Maya Yoshida (吉田 麻也 Yoshida Maya?, born 24 August 1988) is a Japanese footballer who plays as a centre back for Premier League club Southampton and the Japanese national team.
Born in Nagasaki, Yoshida had been a defensive midfielder when playing for Grampus's youth team, but was converted to a centre back after promotion to its top team in 2007. In the 2008 season, he was in the starting lineup for most of the league matches with his Serbian teammate Miloš Bajalica. He scored Nagoya Grampus's historical first goal in the AFC Champions League in the game against Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i on 10 March 2009.
In December 2009, it was announced that Yoshida had transferred to Dutch club VVV-Venlo. He had desired to play for a club in Europe since he was young. Keisuke Honda who was his teammate of Nagoya Grampus introduced his agent, Tetsuro Kiyooka to support his future vision. Indeed, Yoshida followed the footsteps of Keisuke Honda who also played for VVV-Venlo before he joined them. He scored a bicycle kick goal for VVV-Venlo off a corner kick on 11 September 2011 against PSV Eindhoven. The match ended in a 3–3 draw. This goal was awarded as "Goal of the Season 2011–2012" of the Eredivisie. In this season Maya Yoshida scored as a central defender 5 goals in total.
On 30 August 2012, he agreed to join Southampton on a three-year contract for a fee thought to be in the region of £3 million. He made his debut for the Saints on 15 September 2012, against Arsenal in a 6–1 defeat, coming on as a 28th-minute substitute for Jos Hooiveld. He then made his home debut a week later on 22 September 2012 in a 4–1 win over Aston Villa, playing the whole 90 minutes.
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