Ryotaro Meshino departing Man City on loan for Hearts makes sense
According to Edinburgh Live, Man City starlet Ryotaro Meshino has completed a move to Scottish Premiership club Hearts on a season-long loan deal.
Edinburgh Live understands that the 21-year-old Japanese attacker has a chance of making it to the bench in the club’s league fixture against Hamilton Academical at Tynecastle Park on Saturday, although he is unlikely to be catapulted to the starting line up, having only just arrived in Scotland from Japan.
Meshino joined Man City earlier in the summer from boyhood club Gamba Osaka in his homeland for a fee of around £900,000 but the Citizens loaned him out to Hearts after failing to secure a work permit for the youngster. (h/t Edinburgh Live)
However, the 21-year-old, who is capable of playing in a No.10 role and out wide on either flank, has been granted a work permit north of the border and, as per the report, Meshino is excited upon his arrival at Tynecastle.
The Japanese sensation had loan offers from some Dutch clubs as well but he chose to join Hearts instead in order to experience British football for the first time and stay closer to his parent club, Edinburgh Live suggests.
Meshino, though, is not the only youngster who made his move to the Etihad this summer, with Pedro Porro, as well as homegrown kids Liam Delap and Morgan Rodgers, coming through the door as other promising prospects to supplement the club’s youth ranks with some quality talent.
Delap and Rodgers have adapted seamlessly to their roles in City’s youth sides while Porro has joined La Liga outfit Real Valladolid on loan. And now Meshino’s move to Hearts clearly indicates that City are, indeed, working hard to channelize the development of their youngsters down the right path.
To put things into perspective, it is a no-brainer that the 21-year-old’s move to Hearts suits all parties perfectly. Given the strict work permit rules in England and the intense level of competition for places in Pep Guardiola’s first team, Meshino had absolutely no chance of featuring in the club’s senior ranks this season and a temporary move north of the border does make perfect sense.
Meshino is still very young and raw, having arrived at the Etihad with only a solitary full season in the Japanese top-flight under his belt.
As well as acclimatising to his new surroundings, the 21-year-old needs to hone his skills to a level that he is good enough to play a role for a club of City’s stature in the Premier League.
With that in mind, it is easy to see that a loan move to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership should offer him similar surroundings to England, albeit with a lower level of competition and intensity, which should make it a lot easier for him to cope with such a big transition so early in his career.
It is imperative to say that a successful loan spell at Tynecastle could possibly pave the way for a Meshino to earn a role in City’s first team in the future. Also, Man City should not find it hard to monitor his development closely, given the proximity in distance between the two clubs.
Besides spending heavily to recruit world-class players at the senior level, City have put a lot of emphasis on unearthing gems from all corners of the globe in recent times.
As well as that, they have overseen the development of some of the academy stars really well, whilst also adopting a pragmatic approach when it comes to selecting clubs to send out promising prospects on loan.
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All in all, Ryotaro Meshino’s loan move to Hearts sounds good for all parties and this might just be the first big step in his development curve at the Etihad, as the Japanese star hopes to make a name for himself in English football in the years to come.