Executive Summary
33%
Clubs' average hit rate
In total we identified 170 real signings by the clubs of J1 League in the 2023 season — academy promotions, loan returns, internal moves and transfers that never went through are excluded. Of these, 162 are included in the hit-rate calculation; 8 are youth investments (under-23 with no game time), classified separately. Signings without relevant minutes in the season count as unsuccessful.
Club Ranking
| Club | League position | Signings | Evaluated | Successful | Fair | Unsuccessful | Hit rate % |
|---|
| 1 | Cerezo Osaka | 9º | 7 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 50% |
| 2 | Kashima | 5º | 7 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 50% |
| 3 | Sagan Tosu | 14º | 7 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 50% |
| 4 | Urawa | 4º | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 42% |
| 5 | Kawasaki Frontale | 8º | 9 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 38% |
| 6 | Gamba Osaka | 16º | 8 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 36% |
| 7 | Shonan Bellmare | 15º | 8 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 36% |
| 8 | Yokohama FC | 18º | 21 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 35% |
| 9 | Albirex Niigata | 10º | 19 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 34% |
| 10 | Kyoto Sanga | 13º | 11 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 32% |
| 11 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 3º | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 30% |
| 12 | Avispa Fukuoka | 7º | 9 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 28% |
| 13 | Nagoya Grampus | 6º | 11 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 28% |
| 14 | Vissel Kobe | 1º | 11 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 25% |
| 15 | FC Tokyo | 11º | 8 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 25% |
| 16 | Consadole Sapporo | 12º | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 25% |
| 17 | Kashiwa Reysol | 17º | 11 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 23% |
| 18 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 2º | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 14% |
The difference between Signings and Evaluated are youth investments (under-23 with no game time in the season), classified separately. Signings without relevant minutes are unsuccessful (Did not deliver).
Season Highlights
The ten signings with the greatest technical impact of the season, according to the Player Impact Score (PIS).
| Player | Club | Pos | Min | G+A | Avg rating | Rating |
|---|
| Kasper Junker | Nagoya Grampus | F | 2595 | 16+3 | 7.02 | Excellent |
| Yuya Asano | Consadole Sapporo | M | 2662 | 12+4 | 7.00 | Excellent |
| Léo Ceará | Cerezo Osaka | F | 2647 | 11+3 | 6.90 | Excellent |
| Ryotaro Ito | Albirex Niigata | M | 1369 | 7+4 | 7.54 | Excellent |
| So Kawahara | Sagan Tosu | M | 3060 | 1+3 | 7.10 | Excellent |
| Taichi Hara | Kyoto Sanga | F | 958 | 7+4 | 7.28 | Fair |
| Marius Höibraten | Urawa | D | 2969 | 1+1 | 7.10 | Excellent |
| Naomichi Ueda | Kashima | D | 3060 | 2+0 | 6.99 | Excellent |
| Marcos Júnior | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | F | 399 | 1+3 | 7.26 | Fair |
| Kazuya Konno | Avispa Fukuoka | M | 2076 | 5+4 | 6.83 | Excellent |
Methodology
Club assessment — the universe of signings
The report considers exclusively genuine signings for the first-team squad, identified by the player's effective incorporation into the group between seasons. Excluded from the universe are: academy promotions, loan returns, internal administrative moves and transfers recorded but never completed. The aim is to measure the quality of market decisions — and those alone.
Player Impact Score (PIS)
Each evaluated signing receives a score from 0 to 100 that combines four observable technical dimensions: individual performance (average match ratings over the season), output (goals, assists and decisive actions adjusted for game time), collective performance (starting status and correlation with the club's results) and availability (volume of matches, adjusted for interruptions). High-impact players with reduced game time are promoted through an alternative efficiency criterion.
Outcome classification
The rating tiers are: Excellent and Good (successful signings — a full point in the index), Fair (intermediate performance — half a point) and Below expectations / Did not deliver (unsuccessful signings). Two categories sit outside the calculation, for distinct reasons: Injury (a serious injury prevented a fair assessment) and Investment (an under-23 player with low game time — the return depends on development and cannot be counted for or against the club in this cycle). Signings that did not reach relevant game time in the season are classified as unsuccessful, reflecting the sporting cost of the decision.
A note on scope
This is SigningLab's public, simplified model, developed for transparent retrospective market assessment. SigningLab's commercial solutions for partner clubs use a substantially larger set of variables and dedicated predictive mechanisms, and are not fully reflected in this document.
Appendix — Signings by club
* Youth investment (under-23, no game time in the season) — outside the hit-rate calculation.
Albirex Niigata (19 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Takahiro Ko | 32 | 2555 | 1 | 0 | Good |
| Soya Fujiwara | 28 | 2070 | 0 | 2 | Fair |
| Thomas Deng | 28 | 2003 | 0 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Koji Suzuki | 28 | 1858 | 4 | 2 | Good |
| Taiki Watanabe | 26 | 1684 | 2 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Michael James Fitzgerald | 24 | 1530 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Yuto Horigome | 21 | 1489 | 0 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Yuzuru Shimada | 27 | 1399 | 0 | 2 | Fair |
| Ryotaro Ito | 17 | 1369 | 7 | 4 | Excellent |
| Shusuke Ota | 19 | 1069 | 5 | 2 | Good |
| Yoshiaki Takagi | 20 | 1032 | 2 | 4 | Fair |
| Kazuhiko Chiba | 18 | 961 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Kaito Taniguchi | 21 | 900 | 3 | 1 | Fair |
| Yuji Hoshi | 19 | 805 | 0 | 1 | Did not deliver |
| Takumi Hasegawa | 12 | 526 | 0 | 1 | Did not deliver |
| Danilo Gomes Magalhaes | 15 | 459 | 0 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Motoki Nagakura | 10 | 436 | 1 | 0 | Fair |
| Koto Abe | 33 | 360 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Gustavo Nescau | 9 | 226 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Avispa Fukuoka (9 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Kazuya Konno | 29 | 2076 | 5 | 4 | Excellent |
| Itsuki Oda | 31 | 1953 | 2 | 0 | Fair |
| Yosuke Ideguchi | 21 | 1625 | 0 | 0 | Fair |
| Ryoga Sato | 25 | 1051 | 4 | 2 | Fair |
| Wellington | 29 | 640 | 2 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Masaya Tashiro | 11 | 504 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Reiju Tsuruno | 24 | 304 | 2 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Masashi Kamekawa | 4 | 133 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Daiki Sakata | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Cerezo Osaka (7 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Shinji Kagawa | 34 | 2792 | 2 | 0 | Excellent |
| Léo Ceará | 33 | 2647 | 11 | 3 | Excellent |
| Jordy Croux | 28 | 1801 | 2 | 2 | Fair |
| Capixaba | 27 | 1741 | 1 | 4 | Good |
| Han-been Yang | 25 | 1125 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Masaya Shibayama | 10 | 396 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Ryo Watanabe | 7 | 154 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Consadole Sapporo (4 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Yuya Asano | 34 | 2662 | 12 | 4 | Excellent |
| Seiya Baba | 28 | 1002 | 0 | 1 | Did not deliver |
| Shun Takagi | 10 | 810 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Yuki Kobayashi | 24 | 803 | 3 | 0 | Below expectations |
FC Tokyo (8 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Kei Koizumi | 33 | 2720 | 1 | 0 | Fair |
| Teruhito Nakagawa | 27 | 1911 | 4 | 3 | Good |
| Shuhei Tokumoto | 24 | 1069 | 1 | 2 | Below expectations |
| Riki Harakawa | 10 | 679 | 1 | 1 | Fair |
| Kosuke Shirai | 12 | 525 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Perotti | 19 | 232 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Jajá | 8 | 151 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Naoki Kumata | 10 | 97 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Gamba Osaka (8 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Issam Jebali | 29 | 2168 | 5 | 3 | Good |
| Neta Lavi | 27 | 2100 | 0 | 0 | Fair |
| Riku Handa | 24 | 1943 | 1 | 1 | Fair |
| Kosei Tani | 21 | 900 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Naohiro Sugiyama | 8 | 427 | 0 | 1 | Fair |
| Yusei Egawa | 13 | 400 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Shinya Nakano * | 9 | 150 | 0 | 0 | Investment |
| Akinori Ichikawa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Kashima (7 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Naomichi Ueda | 34 | 3060 | 2 | 0 | Excellent |
| Kaishu Sano | 27 | 2152 | 1 | 0 | Good |
| Kei Chinen | 21 | 1116 | 5 | 0 | Good |
| Tomoya Fujii | 23 | 939 | 1 | 1 | Fair |
| Gen Shoji | 31 | 667 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Hidehiro Sugai | 9 | 417 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Gaku Shibasaki | 3 | 102 | 0 | 1 | Did not deliver |
Kashiwa Reysol (11 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Tomoki Takamine | 31 | 2231 | 0 | 1 | Fair |
| Eiichi Katayama | 26 | 2091 | 1 | 2 | Good |
| Yugo Tatsuta | 30 | 1622 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Kota Yamada | 30 | 1464 | 0 | 2 | Below expectations |
| Keiya Sento | 27 | 1097 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Diego | 14 | 1097 | 1 | 2 | Good |
| Tomoya Inukai | 12 | 1063 | 0 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Jay-Roy Grot | 17 | 749 | 1 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Tatsuya Morita | 15 | 270 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Ota Yamamoto | 7 | 117 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Bueno | 4 | 21 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Kawasaki Frontale (9 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Takuma Ominami | 29 | 1882 | 0 | 1 | Fair |
| Naoto Kamifukumoto | 34 | 1080 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Yusuke Segawa | 27 | 1042 | 6 | 0 | Good |
| Shin Yamada | 27 | 1017 | 4 | 2 | Good |
| Bafétimbi Gomis | 8 | 308 | 0 | 3 | Fair |
| Yuto Matsunagane | 4 | 79 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Takatora Einaga | 2 | 64 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Shunsuke Ando | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Hinata Yamauchi * | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Investment |
Kyoto Sanga (11 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Shinnosuke Fukuda | 21 | 1646 | 3 | 1 | Good |
| Kosuke Kinoshita | 25 | 1524 | 3 | 1 | Fair |
| Patric | 33 | 1232 | 10 | 2 | Good |
| Gakuji Ota | 29 | 1080 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Taichi Hara | 13 | 958 | 7 | 4 | Fair |
| Osamu Iyoha | 21 | 848 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Sung-Yun Gu | 10 | 720 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Kento Misao | 11 | 657 | 0 | 0 | Fair |
| Taiki Hirato | 16 | 614 | 0 | 2 | Below expectations |
| Kazunari Ichimi | 15 | 603 | 0 | 2 | Below expectations |
| Warner Hahn | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Nagoya Grampus (11 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Kasper Junker | 33 | 2595 | 16 | 3 | Excellent |
| Ryuji Izumi | 29 | 2016 | 3 | 2 | Good |
| Yuki Nogami | 34 | 2006 | 1 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Tsukasa Morishima | 12 | 778 | 0 | 2 | Fair |
| Tojiro Kubo | 11 | 390 | 1 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Taika Nakashima | 11 | 231 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Ryoga Kida * | 16 | 136 | 0 | 0 | Investment |
| Riku Yamada | 10 | 116 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Thales Paula | 9 | 114 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Ken Masui * | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | Investment |
| Daichi Sugimoto | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Sagan Tosu (7 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| So Kawahara | 34 | 3060 | 1 | 3 | Excellent |
| Kosuke Yamazaki | 33 | 2930 | 0 | 0 | Good |
| Cayman Togashi | 22 | 978 | 5 | 1 | Fair |
| Ryonosuke Kabayama | 26 | 458 | 2 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Atsushi Kawata | 19 | 451 | 2 | 1 | Fair |
| Ayumu Yokoyama | 17 | 370 | 0 | 4 | Fair |
| Kiriya Sakamoto | 3 | 144 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (6 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Takaaki Shichi | 28 | 1459 | 1 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Mutsuki Kato | 13 | 1166 | 4 | 1 | Excellent |
| Marcos Júnior | 7 | 399 | 1 | 3 | Fair |
| Taichi Yamasaki | 18 | 358 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Yudai Tanaka | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Motoki Ohara * | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Investment |
Shonan Bellmare (8 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Beom-keun Song | 26 | 2160 | 0 | 0 | Fair |
| Kosuke Onose | 22 | 1850 | 3 | 3 | Good |
| Kohei Okuno | 27 | 1135 | 0 | 1 | Fair |
| Min Tae Kim | 12 | 1080 | 0 | 0 | Fair |
| Naoya Takahashi | 4 | 292 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Akira Silvano Disaro | 4 | 199 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Sho Fukuda * | 10 | 134 | 0 | 0 | Investment |
| Keita Yamashita | 6 | 66 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Urawa (6 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Marius Höibraten | 33 | 2969 | 1 | 1 | Excellent |
| José Kanté | 24 | 1289 | 8 | 1 | Excellent |
| Toshiki Takahashi | 11 | 412 | 1 | 0 | Fair |
| Shoya Nakajima | 8 | 168 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Ayumi Niekawa | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Shun Yoshida | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Vissel Kobe (11 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Yuki Honda | 32 | 2629 | 0 | 0 | Good |
| Mitsuki Saito | 22 | 1894 | 0 | 1 | Good |
| Haruya Ide | 24 | 929 | 2 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Jean Patric | 27 | 891 | 3 | 0 | Fair |
| Toya Izumi | 17 | 138 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Shuhei Kawasaki * | 10 | 116 | 1 | 0 | Investment |
| Mizuki Arai | 11 | 86 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Bálint Vécsei | 4 | 30 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Yusei Ozaki | 9 | 21 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Juan Mata | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Phelipe Megiolaro | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Yokohama F. Marinos (7 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Jun Ichimori | 27 | 2416 | 0 | 1 | Good |
| Takumi Kamijima | 26 | 983 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Hiroki Ilkura | 26 | 464 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Tae Hee Nam | 9 | 416 | 0 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Kenta Inoue | 13 | 365 | 0 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Asahi Uenaka | 14 | 315 | 3 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Manato Yoshida | 1 | 78 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
Yokohama FC (21 signings)
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Rating |
|---|
| Shion Inoue | 34 | 2445 | 3 | 1 | Good |
| Boniface Nduka | 26 | 2340 | 2 | 0 | Good |
| Kyohei Yoshino | 32 | 2077 | 1 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Yuri | 27 | 1968 | 3 | 1 | Fair |
| Ryoya Yamashita | 28 | 1615 | 2 | 0 | Good |
| Towa Yamane | 24 | 1612 | 0 | 3 | Good |
| Kengo Nagai | 26 | 1587 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Hirotaka Mita | 33 | 1331 | 0 | 1 | Below expectations |
| Mateus Moraes | 24 | 1292 | 0 | 1 | Did not deliver |
| Koki Ogawa | 15 | 1280 | 6 | 0 | Excellent |
| Caprini | 23 | 1216 | 2 | 2 | Fair |
| Marcelo Ryan | 23 | 1141 | 3 | 2 | Fair |
| Koki Sakamoto | 25 | 1005 | 0 | 0 | Below expectations |
| Takuya Wada | 20 | 960 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Takumi Nakamura | 12 | 719 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Tatsuya Hasegawa | 10 | 470 | 0 | 1 | Fair |
| Kento Hashimoto | 10 | 264 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Mizuki Arai | 4 | 110 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Kazuma Takai | 10 | 81 | 1 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Taiga Nishiyama | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | Did not deliver |
| Masaki Endo * | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Investment |