Vietnam national goalkeeper joins Japanese club

With agreement reached between the 27-year-old keeper and Osaka, he has yet to arrange a flight from Thailand to Japan amid Covid-19 restrictions.

Though Lam’s contract with Muangthong United runs until Nov. 2021, postponement of Thai League due to the pandemic has meant all foreign players had to extend their contracts until May 2022, forcing Osaka to splash out to acquire its new keeper.

Lam will be the fourth Vietnamese to play for a Japanese club, after Le Cong Vinh (Consadole Sapporo), Nguyen Tuan Anh (Yokohama FC) and Nguyen Cong Phuong (Mito Hollyhock). However, he will be the first to play in J1 League, with the other three only competing in J2 League.

Vietnamese-Russian Lam spent his youth at Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Moscow. In 2011, he returned to Vietnam to play for Hoang Anh Gia Lai. After unsuccessful spells in Laos and Russia, his career finally took off when he joined Hai Phong FC in 2015. In the next four years, he retained his excellent form, got called up to the national team and became its number one choice.

In 2019, Lam joined Muangthong United and had 42 appearances for the club over two seasons.