Cardiff City player exit officially confirmed after 'toughest year of his life'
Cardiff City defender Ryotaro Tsunoda has officially joined KV Kortrijk on loan.
The move also sees striker Roko Simic return to Cardiff after playing just four times for the Belgian club, which is also owned by Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan, before suffering an injury.
Tsunoda, much like Simic, was a club signing a year ago, signed from Yokohama F Marinos, and he was immediately loaned out to Kortrijk 12 months ago where he flourished in the Pro League.
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After nine appearances he was one of the club's best players according to the stats metrics, however a hamstring injury which required surgery and lengthy rehabilitation means he has been out of action since April.
Having turned out a couple of times of Cardiff's under-21s before the new year, Tsunoda was deemed fit enough to head out to the Belgian top flight and complete a half-season loan stint there to ready him for the 2025/26 campaign with Cardiff.
The injury lay-off was no doubt a struggle for the 25-year-old. However, he hopes better things lay ahead for him in 2025. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
Writing on Instagram last week, the centre-back said: "Thank you for 2024. I got through the toughest year of my life. I hope a wonderful year is coming."
Cardiff will also view it as one player off their books. The Bluebirds had a filled 25-man quota of registered players, meaning they wouldn't have been able to bring in anyone over the age of 21 if players weren't shipped out.
Simic does not count towards that quota because he is 21.
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