Analysis GP Scout Scout Reports

Yumeki Yokoyama Scout Report: Three Tiers from J3 to J1, Six Goals at Each Step

Yazı Özetini Göster

In Japan the most reliable way to measure a player’s true level is to look at how far his output falls when he climbs a tier. Yumeki Yokoyama has passed that test twice: he scored six goals in a J3 season with FC Imabari and six again the following season in J2. In January 2026 he moved to Cerezo Osaka and has built a record of five goals in twenty-six appearances. The file of an attacking midfielder who turns twenty-one tomorrow is a good example of how Japan’s tiered league structure should be read. This report examines the output repeated across three tiers and the adaptation at J1 level that is not yet complete.

Yumeki Yokoyama

Attacking Midfielder

Mevki	Attacking Midfielder
Kulüp	Cerezo Osaka
Uyruk	Japan
Yaş	20
Doğum	23.09.2005
Boy	1.72 m
Ayak	Right
Piyasa Değeri	€1m
Sözleşme	Ongoing with Cerezo Osaka; end date unconfirmed in public sources

The framework: his name is written in Japanese as 横山夢樹. He was born on 23 September 2005 in Tokyo; official J.League records list his height as 172 cm, while some data platforms give 1.74 m. He is right-footed, his primary position is attacking midfielder, he can also operate on either flank and he wears the number 20 shirt. He began his professional career at FC Imabari in April 2023 and recorded twelve goals in fifty-seven appearances for the club. In 2024 he made twenty-nine J3 appearances and scored six goals; in 2025, with the team promoted to J2, he produced six goals in twenty-five appearances. In January 2026 he transferred to Cerezo Osaka, where his record stands at twenty-six appearances and five goals. Internationally he made seven appearances and scored once for Japan’s under-20 side between May and November 2025, and has eight appearances and one goal for the under-23 side since December 2025. He was part of the squad that won the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.

61/100

GP SCOREThe present: a twenty-year-old attacking midfielder who produced six goals in each of two consecutive seasons in J3 and J2, moved to a J1 club in January 2026 and has started five of seven matches in the new season. The ceiling: a scoring rate that has not broken while climbing tiers, a continental title at twenty and the flexibility to play on either flank all point upward; what holds the score back is a J1 sample still limited to 387 minutes and a 46.2 per cent duel success rate.

The strongest record in Yokoyama’s technical file is that his goal output stayed constant as he climbed tiers. Six goals in twenty-nine J3 appearances, six in twenty-five J2 appearances; in the second season his rate per match actually rose. Those two numbers show his finishing does not collapse in relation to the level of the opposition, and in Japan this is the single most closely watched indicator for young players moving up. The current sample at J1 level is narrow: eleven shots in 387 minutes, three of them on target, an expected goals figure of 0.59 and one goal. The goal exceeding the expected figure does not permit any meaningful reading of his finishing in so small a sample, but it does say his shot volume is high relative to minutes. On dribbling he has nine successful take-ons at a 60 per cent success rate, a good level for an attacking midfielder. Despite creating five chances, the blank assist column in J1 shows that the conversion end of his final pass still depends on his team-mates.

His career route shows he has used the tiered structure of Japanese football well. Turning professional at seventeen with a J3 club, playing full seasons in J3 and J2 at eighteen and nineteen, and moving to a J1 club at twenty is the ladder considered ideal for academy-raised players in Japan; that route produces far more match data than profiles who go straight to J1 and wait on the bench. His current position at Cerezo Osaka is transitional: he has started five of seven matches in the new season but has stopped at 387 minutes in total, describing a player who starts and is withdrawn early. That indicates the coaching staff have folded him into the game plan but have not yet given him the ninety-minute load. Being usable on both flanks as well as in the attacking-midfield role is a feature that provides flexibility in squad planning. Being part of the Japan under-23 squad that won the Asian Cup is indirect evidence that he sits in the upper band of his age group nationally.

At 172 cm he is below average for the J1 attacking-midfield pool, though not unusual given the traditional profile of Japanese football; the number of number tens in this height band in the J.League is far from small. The duel data, however, shows the price of that frame: twelve duels won in J1 at a 46.2 per cent success rate. For an attacking midfielder that figure is low and indicates he cannot protect the ball in situations requiring physical contact. A 60 per cent dribble success rate shows he prefers to find space by avoiding contact rather than accepting the duel, an expected solution among smaller attacking players but not sufficient on its own at a higher level. On endurance, having played 691 minutes in the records of the J.League 100 Year Vision League (West) in the 2026 calendar, and having completed full seasons at J3 and J2 level in the two preceding years, indicates a baseline load capacity. There is no record of a long-term injury.

FC Imabari: April 2023 to January 2026, fifty-seven appearances, twelve goals. 2024 J3: twenty-nine appearances, six goals. 2025 J2: twenty-five appearances, six goals. Cerezo Osaka: since January 2026, twenty-six appearances, five goals (all competitions). 2026 calendar, J.League 100 Year Vision League (West) records: 691 minutes, two goals, one assist, a 6.75 average match rating, one yellow card. 2026-27 J1: seven appearances, five starts, 387 minutes, one goal, no assists, a 6.63 average match rating, eleven shots (three on target), 0.59 expected goals, nine successful dribbles (60 per cent), twelve duels won (46.2 per cent), five chances created, no cards. International: Japan U20, May to November 2025, seven appearances, one goal; Japan U23, since December 2025, eight appearances, one goal. Honour: 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup (Saudi Arabia) winner. Market value: €1m. Shirt number 20. The all-competitions club totals and the league-by-league breakdowns do not reconcile exactly across platforms; cup matches are the source of that difference.

Strengths

Six goals in J3 and six in J2: a scoring rate that did not drop while climbing tiers shows his output is not tied to the level of opposition.
Reaching a professional volume of eighty-three appearances by the age of twenty.
A 60 per cent dribble success rate: a good level for an attacking midfielder.
Usable on both flanks as well as in the attacking-midfield role, providing squad-planning flexibility.
A place in the squad that won the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup: the upper band of his age group nationally.

Weaknesses

A 46.2 per cent duel success rate: a measurable category where a 172 cm frame exacts its price in contact situations.
Only 387 minutes at J1 level: despite starting five of seven matches, he has not yet carried a ninety-minute load.
No assists in the 2026-27 J1 season; despite creating five chances, the final pass has not converted.
Two goals in fifteen international youth appearances: a low transfer rate from club output to the national team.
His contract end date cannot be verified in public sources.

Development Areas

The development section of Yokoyama’s file concentrates on two categories specific to J1 level. The first is physical contest: a 46.2 per cent duel success rate is insufficient for an attacking midfielder who plays with his back to goal or comes under pressure in tight spaces in the top flight. Raising that figure will come not through height but through body positioning and ball-protection technique, the standard development heading for players in this height band in Japan. The second is minutes: starting five of seven matches yet stopping at 387 minutes in total produces no data on his level in the closing thirty minutes of a match, and that is precisely where durability in J1 is measured. The third area is the conversion of his final pass: creating five chances without an assist can be explained in the short term by chance, but the fact that his assist numbers also lagged clearly behind his goal numbers in his J3 and J2 spells shows his contribution arrives predominantly through finishing. Long-term durability in the attacking-midfield role requires those two categories to balance out.

Contract Situation

Yokoyama moved from FC Imabari to Cerezo Osaka in January 2026. The end date of the contract could not be verified in public sources; the limited disclosure of contract lengths by J.League clubs is a common data gap in Japan, and the item is therefore marked unconfirmed. His market value is recorded at €1m. In Japan, young-player transfers from a J2 club to a J1 club are usually structured over three to five years, and clubs prefer early extensions for players who have broken into an age-group national team; Yokoyama’s AFC U-23 Asian Cup title strengthens that possibility. For young Japanese players opening up to Europe the typical threshold is the twenty-two to twenty-three age band, and two seasons remain before it. Because of the uncertainty on the contract side, no firm assessment can be made about the commercial framework of this file today.

Career Projection

What will be measured over the next twelve months is whether Yokoyama can raise not his number of starts but his number of minutes at Cerezo Osaka. The current picture shows the coaching staff trust him but have not yet handed him the job of finishing matches; that distinction is a critical threshold for young players in J1. Should he close the season above fifteen hundred minutes, how much of the scoring rate he showed in J3 and J2 survives in J1 becomes measurable for the first time, and at twenty-one he settles among the most closely watched attacking midfielders in Japan. Should the minutes stay at their current level, the most likely path is a loan spell within J1 or a development season as a rotation player at Cerezo Osaka. Internationally, holding his place at under-23 level will keep him visible in Japan’s Olympic-cycle planning; given that a significant share of European transfers for Japanese players is shaped by age-group national team performances, that channel is as decisive as club minutes.

GP VERDICTOUTPUT UNBROKEN ACROSS TIERS — J1 SAMPLE STILL NARROW

A twenty-year-old attacking midfielder who scored six goals in each of J3 and J2, moved to Cerezo Osaka in January 2026 and has started five of seven matches in the new season while stopping at 387 minutes in total.

Closing the J1 season above fifteen hundred minutes and lifting the duel success rate into the fifty per cent band.

This report was prepared by cross-checking data from the official J.League player page, FotMob, Soccer King, Football LAB and Wikipedia. Height varies across sources between 172 cm and 1.74 m; the official J.League record has been used here. The contract end date could not be found in public sources and is marked unconfirmed. GEGEN SCORE is an editorial assessment score combining technical, tactical, mental, physical, potential and risk components; it is a comparison tool, not a transfer decision on its own. Last updated: 22 September 2026.

Hakan Nural — Gegen Pres Japan and South Korea correspondent. He follows profiles approaching the European threshold in the J.League and K League throughout the season.

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