Takashi Usami has been crowned April’s Coca Cola J.League Player of the Month, his fourth time receiving the award.

The 23-year-old Gamba talisman’s nine goals this campaign so far have kept the champions in the MEIJI YASUDA J1 League title reckoning, and taken him top of the scoring charts.

Usami’s feats have almost been matched by MEIJI YASUDA J2 League prize recipient Zweigen Kanazawa’s Shohei Kiyohara, who has blasted in eight goals – five of them from the spot.

The Zweigen captain’s impact in his team’s first season in the second tier has been fundamental to their remarkable rise to third.