AMIENS, Aug 12 (Kyodo/APP): Japan attacker Keito Nakamura is seeking to leave French Ligue 2 club Reims this summer, their president said Monday.
But Jean-Pierre Caillot was adamant the future of the 25-year-old, who scored 11 goals in the top-tier Ligue 1 last term, lies at his club.
“He’s under contract with us,” Caillot said after Reims drew their season opener 2-2 away to Amiens, where Nakamura was not in the matchday squad.
“I don’t know (about offers from other clubs). Either way, he will stay at Reims.”
Nakamura, who joined Reims from Austrian outfit LASK in the summer of 2023 on a five-year contract, became the first Japanese player to score in five consecutive games in a major European league last October.
Reims were eventually relegated, however, after they finished 16th and lost in the promotion-relegation playoff.
Nakamura was also absent from Reims’ preseason tour of Japan through Aug. 2, in which they lost to J-League second-division club Montedio Yamagata 1-0 and top-tier side Kashiwa Reysol 2-1 before beating J1 Gamba Osaka 2-1.
Back in May, Nakamura told Kyodo News he was determined to “survive” the battle to make the Japan squad for next summer’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United Sates.
“It’s the stage I’ve been dreaming of since I was little. What I have in front of me now really is the biggest chance,” he said. “I want to score at the World Cup finals.”