West Ham United have completed the signing of Japanese international full-back Risa Shimizu according to reports on The Hammers’ official club website.
The 26-year-old defender joins national team colleague Yui Hasegawa at The Chigwell Construction Stadium this season.
Shimizu has spent her entire career to date in her homeland with Tokyo Verdy Beleza. The player came through the youth ranks at the Japanese Women’s Empowerment Professional Football League club before starring for the first team. Shimizu has won 14 trophies with Tokyo Verdy Beleza including five league titles. She has been named in her league’s Best XI on five occasions while Shimizu was crowned the EAFF E-1 Football Championship’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) earlier this year.
After completing her move to West Ham United, Shimizu said “I’m excited to be joining West Ham United.
“This is the first time that I’ve been to England. My English isn’t that good so learning more of the language will be a challenge for me but this is something I’ll work on, as well as playing to the best of my ability on the football pitch.
“I wanted to make the move overseas and join a Club in one of the top divisions and so, when I heard of West Ham’s interest, I decided it was time to take that step. I took up the offer straight away as I believe West Ham is the perfect fit for me.
“As a player, I would describe myself as very athletic – I like to make plenty of overlapping runs from defence and I want to provide some extra flair to the team. I want to help this team achieve great things.
“I’m also looking forward to being back with Yui (Hasegawa). I never thought I would have the opportunity to play with her in England, so it’s exciting to be able to do that. Together, we want to represent Japanese football and do really well for West Ham.”
Shimizu is the 11th player to join West Ham United this summer.