The keyword for the revamped Gamba Osaka under Head Coach JENS WISSING is "forward."
Every player and staff member keeps those words in mind.
He is approaching football with a stronger forward-looking mindset, encompassing his playing style, his thinking, and even his life as a footballer.
This season's WE ARE GAMBA OSAKA is about men who keep pushing forward,
This book shines a spotlight on "breakthrough" moments—experiences and encounters that significantly changed one's career.
What kind of world did they discover beyond that point?

There's a match I'll never forget. It was the 8th Sec. of the J2 League in 2024, against JEF United Chiba, when I was on loan at Tochigi SC. Trailing 0-3, Harumi MINAMINO took to the pitch in the second half.
"The previous year I played for Tegevajaro Miyazaki in J3, and this year I played in the J2 league for the first time. After starting in the opening match, I was mostly coming on as a substitute. In the previous match, the 7th Sec. against V-Varen Nagasaki, I started for the first time in 6 matches and scored my first goal since joining the team. However, because it was a back-to-back match against Chiba, I was put on the bench, and the Head Coach asked me to "change the momentum," so I came on in the second half."
However, Tochigi conceded several goals in quick succession at the start of the second half, and then lost five more. The final score was 0-8. It was a defeat by a score that Minamino had never experienced in his career, but he said that for the first time since joining Tochigi, he felt that he "could do it."
"As a team, we conceded a lot of goals, but the performance wasn't as bad as the scoreline suggests, and as for my own performance, I felt a real sense of confidence in my ability to receive the ball, move, and approach the goal during those 45 minutes. At the time, I was playing in the center of a 3-1-4-2 formation, as an inside midfielder, and before the match, I was watching overseas match footage and saw how smoothly Paulo Dybala received the ball, even though he's a different type of player than me. I went into the Chiba match with that image in mind. Moreover, when I had a few opportunities to face forward, I played exactly as I had envisioned, and it felt like it fit perfectly. I felt like I had grasped the knack for approaching the goal. After that, I felt confident that I could score. My first goal against Nagasaki was a vague one, where the ball just happened to come to me and I scored, but after the Chiba match, I felt confident in how I got to the goal."
In fact, he became a regular starter from the 9th Sec. onward, and while increasing his presence in the attacking line, he recorded a team-high 7 goals.
"For me, that feeling is even more important than scoring. I feel like I can only score if I have that feeling."
And that "feeling" has grown even stronger as he plays more matches this season, his second year back with Gamba.
"Last year, when I returned to Gamba, I felt it was difficult to score in J1, or rather, to score in J1 as a Gamba player. It's hard to explain, but considering the team's atmosphere, the club's history, the pressure from the supporters, and of course the competitiveness of the forwards, I honestly felt it was difficult to capitalize on the chances I was given, since I wasn't given many opportunities to begin with. In that sense, there weren't any moments where I felt, on an intuitive level, 'Ah, I can do it,' but this year is different. I haven't completely reached that point yet, but I feel that feeling is growing stronger with each passing day. The Osaka Derby at the start of the season and the match against Kyoto Sanga FC in the 9th round were examples of that. Based on my experience so far, the stronger that intuition becomes, the more goals I naturally score, so now I'm focusing on refining that as much as possible."
I spoke to him right after the Avispa Fukuoka match on April 22nd, when he scored his second goal of the season. In fact, even then, he emphasized his "feeling" more than the goal itself. A week later, on April 29th, Minamino found the back of the net again against Kyoto, and then scored two goals in the match against Vissel Kobe on May 2nd, his first start in three games. This means...

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Text by Misa Takamura

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