Kaoru Mitoma: One of the players of the season and an incredible find by phenomenal Brighton
Brighton are functioning on another level and the brilliance of the previously unknown Kaoru Mitoma sums up just how impressive their operation has been.
Who’s this then?
Kaoru Mitoma is a 5ft 10ins winger born in Kanagawa, Japan, currently playing in the very talented Brighton team that is pushing for a European place this season.
He grew up in the Kawasaki area and joined the Frontale academy as a boy. Although he was eventually offered a first-team place, he chose to go to the University of Tsukuba – a famous footballing Japanese university – because he didn’t feel ready to turn professional, later saying: “I thought it would be better to go to university in order to make it as a professional footballer. So I studied lots of things – coaching, sports and nutrition. I learned lots of things.”
I love that intelligent approach to the game; it’s very refreshing. And he actually wrote his thesis on the art of dribbling. As you do. His research involved fixing a GoPro camera to his head to record his movements, examining which enabled him to get past opponents better. That is dedication to your art.
During his time at University he was picked to represent Japan at the 2017 and 2019 Universiade tournaments, as well as the 2018 Asian Games and the 2019 Toulon Tournament with the under-23 national team. So his career was progressing even though he wasn’t playing professionally. He also trained with Frontale at this time and was assigned ‘Special Designated Player’ status.
Eventually in 2018 he signed a professional contract with Kawasaki Frontale due to begin in 2020, making his debut in the J-League. The club won the title that year as well as the Emperor’s Cup and the following season they picked up the Japanese Super Cup. Mitoma was a stand-out performer, playing in 37 games and scoring 18 times in 2020 and in 2021 notching 12 goals in 24 games.
At this point Brighton turned up and opened their wallet and said “there’s three million in there, you can have it” to take him to the south coast. They immediately loaned him out to Seagulls owner Tony Bloom’s Belgian outfit Union SG to get him acclimatised to European football. Celtic had their eyes on him too but didn’t act quickly enough.
He did really well, playing 29 games and scoring eight goals.
This season he has been brought into the Seagulls’ first team, scoring 10 goals with seven assists in 31 appearances. Mitoma has been axiomatic to the progress of the side under Roberto De Zerbi. Overall he’s scored 50 times in 127 games, which is a damn fine return.
He’s also now a full international, playing 15 times for Japan with six goals. It was his controversial VAR-awarded assist (that one where the ball looked out but was adjudged to be in) at the World Cup to beat Spain that sent them through to the knockout stages.
Why the love?
Brighton are one of the most progressive, thoughtful and nimble organisations and one which has a very good scouting network, picking out an outstanding talent from the J-League. All of which is sensible, especially when you think he cost just £3million. Big clubs wouldn’t pay that for anyone on principle. Far too cheap to get their fans excited. They seem to prefer a £70million flop. Three million! Transfermrkt now values him at £22 million and that a) is a conservative valuation, and b) will only rise further, especially if Brighton do get into Europe and make good progress.
He can play left wing or left midfield equally effectively and does crop up on the right occasionally. Mitoma is becoming a fan favourite because he is incredibly industrious and seems to have a great attitude. There’s not a hint of a strop or whiney pouting. And he does have lovely thick floppy hair, which can’t be discounted as driving the love.
As with Ange Postecoglou’s players at Celtic, he’s got tremendous close ball control and is an intelligent footballer. He actually reminds me a bit of Pat Nevin at the peak of his powers and that is as big a compliment as you can have. He’s got that quick, elusive, one-step-ahead-of-you quicksilver element to his game.
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It does feel like he is a university-educated footballer, in that his technique is fabulous, as though he has had it honed in a competitive college environment. As such he is absolutely at the right club. He hasn’t needed any time to adjust to playing in the Premier League probably because, contrary to what some pundits would have us believe, it is not some uniquely difficult, uniquely skilful or uniquely physical elite level. It is just football.
I love the way he can twist and turn a defender. Although most of his goals have been scored with his right foot, he looks basically two-footed, often feigning to cut in on his right, only to push it outside with his left, get a yard of space and cross it with his left. You never quite know which way he’s going to go and that is a tremendous asset to any forward player.
Mitoma is also surprisingly quick, surprising because you don’t think of him as a speed merchant but he moves across the ground like a will-o-the-wisp. On top of that, he’s far from being a lightweight and doesn’t get bullied off the ball easily and, as someone who has written a thesis on dribbling, naturally, he’s a very good dribbler.
He is one of the reasons Brighton are the most attractive teams to watch this season and when you consider how little he cost and how expensive far worse players are, he’s an absolute star.
Three great moments
The boy can head it, too:
I think this is called giving someone a right chasing:
Dribbling ahoy!
Future days?
Although he’s now 25, Mitoma has only played 127 club games as a professional, which isn’t many for that age. That may mean he can play for longer when he gets into his mid to late 30s. Certainly he seems like a young player, not a grizzled veteran.
A footballer this clever doesn’t come along as often as you’d like. If Brighton get into Europe they can presumably hang onto him. He’s under contract until 2025 but it seems likely that Brighton’s resolve will be tested before then. He’s on fantastic money – £520,000 per annum – but that is, sadly, peanuts in football, especially for one of the players of the season.
