According to Baltic Football News information, Latvian champions FC RFS have loaned Japanese midfielder Yukiyoshi Karashima to Finnish top-flight side HJK Helsinki until the end of the season.
The 28-year-old joined RFS ahead of this season after four successful years in Lithuania, where he won the Lithuanian championship title as one of the key players for FK Žalgiris.
Signed as one of the replacements for RFS leader Adam Markhiev, Karashima struggled to impress in the first half of the campaign, making just four appearances and spending most of his time on the bench. However, once the teams returned to playing on natural grass, the Japanese midfielder began to settle in and deliver better performances. In total, he has recorded three goals and four assists in 15 Virsliga matches this season.
Now, Karashima will spend the remainder of the campaign on loan with HJK Helsinki, the 33-time Finnish champions. This season has been far from ideal for HJK, as they currently sit fourth in the league table, eight points adrift of leaders FC Inter Turku.
The Helsinki club’s European journey ended prematurely two weeks ago, when they were eliminated in the second qualifying round by Bulgarian side Arda in a penalty shootout. This marks the first time since the 2020/21 season that HJK have failed to reach the main phase of any major European competition.
