Catania clinch Japanese deal

Serie A side Catania have signed Japanese starlet Takayuki Morimoto on loan.

Serie A new-boys Catania have signed Japanese starlet Takayuki Morimoto on loan for the coming season, according to his club Tokyo Verdy.

The striker, famed for being the youngest player to score a J-League goal two days before his 16th birthday, will look to make an impression in Europe after clinching the one-year deal.

Morimoto, now 18, has been a regular figure for Japan's international youth ranks, performing in the 2005 World Youth Championship for the Asian nation.

However he will now be keen to forge his reputation against the notoriously mean defences of Serie A.