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Done dealUpdated 12:24 UK · 1 Sept

Ayase Ueda to Lille
Feyenoord's top scorer completes €15m move

FeyenoordFeyenoordLilleLilleFee€15mReliability100%
The story so far
  1. 1 Sept
    Transfer confirmed
    Lille and Feyenoord both announced the completed transfer, with Ueda signing a four-year contract to 2030.
  2. 31 Aug
    Medical completed
    Ueda underwent and passed his medical with Lille on the Monday before the move was announced.
  3. 30 Aug
    Deal finalised in Rotterdam
    Lille president Olivier Létang travelled to Rotterdam to finalise the transfer agreement with Feyenoord.

The move in full

Ayase Ueda has completed a move from Feyenoord to Lille for a fee in the region of €15m, signing a four-year contract after finishing as the Eredivisie's top scorer last season.

Lille have completed the signing of Ayase Ueda from Feyenoord in a deal worth around €15m. The 28-year-old Japan international has signed a four-year contract, running to 2030, after passing a medical with his new club on Monday. Both clubs confirmed the move on Tuesday, with Feyenoord posting a farewell message to the striker and Lille announcing him as their latest forward addition.

The move was driven by Lille president Olivier Létang, who travelled to Rotterdam personally to help finalise the deal. Lille had already sold winger Matias Fernandez-Pardo to Newcastle and wanted proven firepower lined up before that departure went through. Ueda gives new head coach Davide Ancelotti extra competition and cover up front, arriving at a good time given Hamza Igamane's recovery from injury and Olivier Giroud's advancing years.

For Feyenoord, it's a significant loss. Ueda was their outstanding forward last season, scoring 25 goals in 31 Eredivisie appearances to finish as the division's top scorer, and leaves after three years in Rotterdam having scored 43 goals in 112 appearances in all competitions. He played his final match for the club on Sunday, scoring in a 2-2 draw away at ADO Den Haag before saying an emotional goodbye to teammates, thanking the club and supporters for their trust in him.

His form hasn't dropped off since that title-winning scoring run. Ueda has started the new Eredivisie season the way he finished the last one, already among the goals and assists for Feyenoord in the opening weeks, and he arrived in France off the back of a brace for Japan against Tunisia at the 2026 World Cup. That combination of a proven scoring record and international pedigree is a large part of why Lille moved for him rather than gambling on a less proven alternative.

At Lille, Ueda joins a squad preparing for Champions League football following their third-place Ligue 1 finish, and he could feature as soon as Thursday against Toulouse. Whether he starts alongside Giroud or is used as an alternative focal point, his movement and finishing inside the box should give Ancelotti a reliable option to call on through a season that will be squeezed by European fixtures.

What it does to the model

Bawler's match predictions are built from what actually happens on the pitch — goals scored, chances created, chances conceded and who's in the starting XI — so a proven scorer switching leagues shifts those underlying numbers for both clubs. Lille's attacking output will be reassessed as Ueda starts featuring in Ligue 1, while Feyenoord's numbers will reflect life without their top scorer from last season. Those adjustments happen gradually as real matches are played, not immediately on the back of the transfer alone.

How this is scored100%
  • Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

Sources

Related: Lille team page · All transfersLille — every match prediction

Where this move lands

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