The Central Coast Mariners has signed exciting Japanese forward, Kaito Taniguchi.
The 30 year old joins the club from Japanese J2 side, Albirex Niigata, where he made 180 appearances for the club over the past five seasons. The forward scored 43 goals for the Niigata-based club, featuring heavily for the ‘Albi’ in the J2 and most recently, the top-flight J1 competitions.
Taniguchi began his footballing career with Gifu Kyoritsu University before securing a move to J3 side, Iwate Grulla Morioka where he scored 24 goals over two seasons. The forward then joined Roasso Kumamoto in 2020 where Taniguchi won the J3 golden boot, scoring 18 goals in the campaign.
His stand-out season was rewarded with a move to J2 with Albirex in 2021 and the forward currently sits 14th in the Club’s all-time appearance list.
Central Coast Mariners Sporting Director, Matt Simon said Taniguchi will be an important acquisition for the side.
“We’re thrilled to be able to bring in someone of Kaito’s calibre to the club,” Simon said.
“He is a striker who has played at a high level in one of the best leagues in Asia and we believe his experience and eye for goal will take our side to another level.
“Bringing depth and competition to this side was one of our goals this transfer window and we feel Kaito, along with our other new signings, will be able to do that as we continually look to improve this season.”
Taniguchi was also looking forward to a new adventure with the Mariners.
“This is my first footballing opportunity abroad and I can’t wait to get to Australia and get started,” Taniguchi said.
“Talking to everyone at the club, this is a project that I’m excited to be a part of and I think my qualities and values match that of the Mariners players, coaches, staff and fans in what we want to achieve together this season.”
Taniguchi joins the mid-season signings of Nathanael Blair, Chris Donnell, Ali Auglah and Oli Lavale and will be available for Sunday’s contest against Melbourne Victory at polytec Stadium.
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