Recently, it was announced that Ishikawa Yuki, captain of the Japanese men's national volleyball team, will be leaving Milan, where he has played for four seasons, and transferring to Perugia next season.
Perugia is the strongest club in the world, having won all the competitions it has participated in in the 2023/24 season, including the World Club Championship. Yuki Ishikawa of Japan will be wearing the uniform of such a big club next season and will compete in the Italian League and the European Champions League. After 10 seasons in Italy, he has finally reached the top by gradually climbing the ladder.
Personally, I had always hoped that he would one day play as a starter for one of Italy's "BIG 4" clubs - Perugia, Trentino, Civitanova, or Modena - and I think that from at least his second year at Milan he would have shown the ability and recognition to deserve that.
If possible, I would like to see him return to Trentino, or Modena, where he played in his first year, because of their uniform designs, but Perugia is the team I can least imagine him playing for out of these four.
In particular, as Ishikawa himself said at the press conference, the number 14 for Perugia was worn by the Serbian player Aleksandar Atanasević, who played for Perugia for eight seasons from 2013 and was the face of the team for a long time as the club became a big club, so he could not imagine another player wearing that number.
Also, I personally didn't want them to go because of the uniform design and location, but at this point it doesn't matter (lol).
However, Lorenzetti, who was the manager at Modena in his first year, is now the manager at Perugia, so it is a heartwarming development to see the two playing volleyball together again after 10 years.
Anyway, as a Japanese person, I am proud of this transfer.
In the past, Yoichi Kato belonged to a big Italian club at the time, but at that time he was only a bench player. However, this time Ishikawa is mostly a starter. I think that the reason he decided to transfer was because of those conditions.
However, even so, a fierce battle for a starting spot is inevitable. Next season at Perugia, Olek Plotnitskiy (Ukraine) and Kamil Semeniuk (Poland) will both remain, playing the same outside hitter position as Ishikawa and contributing to the team's quadruple title as starters last season. Furthermore, both of them are well-balanced offensively and defensively, have good serves, and are roughly speaking similar types of players to Ishikawa, so I think it will be more difficult for them to make an impression than before.
I personally really like Plotnitsky and Semeniuk, and it would be sad to see them miss out, so I would also like to see Perugia play with a 3OH system that includes an outside hitter opposite the setter, but that will be difficult because Perugia's opposite, Wassim Bentala (Tunisia), is also one of the world's number one opposites.
However, I think Ishikawa's leadership on the court is his greatest strength, and if that fits in well with the team, I think he could secure a spot in the starting lineup.
I'm also looking forward to seeing Ishikawa take the ball from Italian setter Simone Giannelli. I personally liked the pairing he had with former Italian national team player Travizza when he was with Padua, so I hope to see something like that or even better in Perugia.
Although there has been no official announcement yet, there are rumors that middle blocker Agustin Rosell (Argentina), who played with him at Milan, will also be transferring to Perugia, which could make the team truly formidable next year as well.
Winning the Italian league and Coppa Italia for consecutive years and winning the European Champions League are all within reach, and I can even imagine a showdown against Takahashi Ai, who is rumored to be transferring to Japan, in the World Club Championships.
Volleyball is likely to remain exciting even after the Paris Olympics.
Photo: Sir Safety Perugia
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