Biography
Yuto Nagatomo is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a defender for Turkish club Galatasaray S.K., on loan from Italian club Inter Milan.
Nagatomo officially signed with FC Tokyo in 2008, while at Meiji. But he made an appearance at J.League Cup as Special Designated Youth Player in 2007. Nagatomo made 84 appearances in his four years at FC Tokyo.
In July 2010, Nagatomo was signed on loan by the newly promoted Serie A side A.C. Cesena, where he played the first half of the season as Cesena's starting left back. Before moving to Italy, Nagatomo gave a speech to 25,000 supporters just after the match involving F.C. Tokyo and Vissel Kobe on 17 July 2010. After being signed on a permanent deal, Nagatomo was then sold to Inter Milan.
Due to his impressive performances for both Cesena and Japan in the 2011 Asian Cup, he was fully signed by Cesena in January 2011. But before making any league appearances he was sent straight out on loan to Internazionale in exchange for Davide Santon also on loan, becoming the first East Asian player to sign with Internazionale.
Nagatomo, wearing number 55, made his debut for Nerazzurri on 6 February 2011, replacing Wesley Sneijder in the Serie A match against Roma, won by Inter 5-3. In the following game, Nagatomo came on as a late substitute against Juventus, before starting in both of the following games against Fiorentina and Cagliari. Nagatomo showed his versatility by playing right back against Sampdoria on 27 February, and finishing the whole 90 minutes. On 6 March 2011, Nagatomo scored his first goal for Inter in the 5-2 trashing of Genoa on a Kharja assist with a swivel and a finish into the roof of the net.
On 15 March, to show solidarity with his home country in light of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami which took place the previous week he paraded the Japanese flag (with the writing "You'll Never Walk Alone", a chant of his former team in Tokyo) around the pitch during a Champions League match against Bayern Munich. Inter had drawn German club side Schalke 04 in the quarter-finals of Champions League. Nagatomo, along with international teammate Atsuto Uchida who plays for Schalke became the second and third Japanese footballer to play in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions league (Keisuke Honda was the first playing for CSKA Moscow during 2009-10 season).
After the Serie A season was over, Internazionale made an agreement with Cesena of making Yuto's move permanent in a cash plus player exchange deal. Nagatomo was valued at EUR10.95 million, however part of the fee was paid via half of the registration rights of Luca Garritano (EUR700,000) and Luca Caldirola (EUR2.5 million).
Nagatomo started his second Inter Milan season by playing 62 minutes in the opening Serie A match against Palermo, ended in a 4-3 away defeat. On 27 September 2011, Nagatomo provided an assist for Giampaolo Pazzini by nutmegging Aleksei Berezutski before driving the ball across goal during the 3-2 away win against CSKA Moscow in the second group stage match of Champions League. He scored his first goal of the season on 10 December 2011 during the 2-0 home win against Fiorentina in the matchday 15 of Serie A. He was again in the scoresheet three days later as he headed home a Ricky Álvarez cross in the 1-0 win against Genoa. In the last match of 2011 against Lecce at home, Nagatomo produced a "man of the match" performance by providing two assists in an eventual 4-1 win.
Nagatomo enjoyed his most productive season under Walter Mazzarri, scoring five goals, along with six assists during the 2013-14 season.
Nagatomo lost his place in the starting lineup in the 2014-15 season, making only 14 league appearances. He captained Inter for the first time on 28 September 2014 in the 2014-15 Serie A matchday 5 versus Cagliari, leaving the field in the 27th minutes after receiving two yellow cards in 120 seconds as Inter was defeated 1-4 at San Siro. In February 2015, Nagatomo turned down an offer from Premier League outfit Manchester United, stating that his intentions were to renew with Inter.
On 8 April 2016, Nagatomo agreed a contract extension with the club, signing until June 2019. During the 2016-17 season, he played 20 matches in all competitions, including 16 in league, 11 of them as starter, as Inter finished 7th in championship, was eliminated in the quarter-final of Coppa Italia by Lazio, and finished 3rd in Europa League Group K.
Nagatomo improved his game at the start of 2017-18 season under new manager Luciano Spalletti, winning his place once again. His 200th official appearance for Inter occurred on 16 September 2017 in the matchday 3 match at Crotone, winning a free kick that lead to the first goal in an eventual 0-2 win. Later on 12 December, Nagatomo played 120 minutes in the 2017-18 Coppa Italia round of 16 fixture against underdogs of Pordenone. The match went to penalty shootouts where he netted the winning penalty in the 5-4 penalty shootout that led Internazionale to the victory and progression to quarter-finals.
Nagatomo was selected as part of the Japan squad for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup by coach Alberto Zaccheroni. He featured in every game Japan played in the competition and helped them defeat Australia in the final, thus earning his first international honour. He was included in Alberto Zaccheroni's 23-man Japan squad for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in which he featured in all three games Japan played before they were eliminated in the group stage.
On 31 January 2018, Nagatomo joined Turkish club Galatasaray S.K. on loan for the remainder of the 2017-18 season.
