KOLKATA: East Bengal's new Japanese recruit Yusa Katsumi on Monday spent time with the Japan U-17 team here to take part in the World Cup, a day after he landed in the city for the upcoming I-League season.
Katsumi, who jumped ship from arch-rivals Mohun Bagan two months ago, was seen talking to Japan U-17 chief coach Yoshiro Moriyama for a long duration as the colts sweated it out in the middle ahead of their crunch pre-quarters clash against high-flying England on Tuesday.
Katsumi was under the tutelage of coach Moriyama during his formative years with J1 League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
"He is nice coach and he gave me the opportunity so I met him. He coached me in the U-18 level at Hiroshima," Katsumi said.
"I reached Kolkata last night. I will be at the stadium to watch Japan play tomorrow," he added.
The 29-year-old midfielder became the fourth foreign player to join East Bengal.
Katsumi came to India in 2011 and spent two seasons with ONGC before joining Mohun Bagan in 2013.
The I-League starts in the first week of November.