Mitoma, who also plays the main winger for the Japanese national soccer team, transferred from the J League Kawasaki Frontale to Brighton for only 4 million pounds (about 6.6 billion won) in the summer of 2021. After moving, he left for Belgian club Royal Winion Saint-Zilouaz on a one-year loan to get a chance to play because he did not have a work permit (work visa). He played in 29 games in all competitions, scoring eight goals and four assists.
Mitoma returned to Brighton after his work visa problem was resolved, and he had a successful year with seven goals and five assists in 33 league games in the 2022/23 season, his Premier League debut season.
In fact, Mitoma was not a Brighton starting player at the start of last season. In the away game against West Ham in the third round of the 2022/23 season, he was replaced in extra time in the second half, and it was not until after the middle of the second half.
However, Mitoma's fate began to change against Wolverhampton on November 5, his second start of the season. This is because he scored his Premier League debut goal and won a penalty kick in the match against Wolverhampton, which also attracted attention as a mini-match between Korea and Japan with Hwang Hee-chan, leading his team to a 3-2 victory. Mitoma, who scored a goal against Arsenal in the League Cup and scored in two consecutive official matches, also contributed to the Japanese national team's advance to the round of 16 by helping the so-called "1mm miracle" in the final group match against Spain in the Qatar World Cup.
The situation was dramatic at the time. Mitoma, who played as a substitute in the third game, saved the ball that had been hung 1mm on the goal line in the 6th minute of the second half to set the stage for a come-from-behind goal. Since then, a number of media hav
e reported that the score is a "1mm miracle."
Asked about his replacement, Mitoma said, "I think I'm playing a role in changing the flow. "I think it would be best if I went in and changed the team vigorously and showed a difference in one-on-one ability to gain the upper hand," he said. In fact, the Japanese national team's two come-from-behind wins in the group stage came after Mitoma's input. In the match against Germany, Mitoma contributed to Doan Rits' equalizer with a stable ball carry and pass from the left, and in the match against Spain, he played a crucial assist.
Mitoma did not care about the assist controversy against Spain. "I didn't care at all about the suspicion that the ball was out, and I knew very well that the victory would be decided in such a close game," he said, adding, "I just want to use my 1mm experience in the next game," signaling that he will play in the next game based on the memory of victory.
Of course, there were ups and downs. As the second half of the league became sluggish last season, it was evaluated that he once grew into the best winger in the Premier League. Nevertheless, based on his flexible dribbling ability, Mitoma's performance in every game until March gave a fresh shock to the Premier League.
Despite his debut season, he scored seven goals in the league, breaking the record of most goals scored by a Japanese player in a single Premier League season. Previously, Shinji Kagawa from Manchester United (6 goals and 4 assists, 2012/13 season) and Shinji Okazaki from Leicester City (6 goals and 3 assists, 2016/17 season) scored the most goals in the Premier League in a year.
Based on his outstanding performances in Brighton and the Premier League, Mitoma was selected as the most valuable player in 2022 by the Japan Professional Football Association (JPFA).
This season also started the season smoothly with eight league games and three goals and three assists after the opening. In particular, the first goal scored after beating two defenders with a tremendous dribble in the away game of Wolverhampton Wanderers in the second round of the Premier League in the 2023/24 season was selected as the Premier League's goal of the month in August 2023.
When Mitoma made his name known in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur head coach Enzi Postecoglou, who is currently leading the Premier League, praised Mitoma. Postecoglou said in an interview in August, "Yokohama F."I watched his debut as Marinos coach, and he destroyed us even though he was just out of college," he recalled.
"I don't know anything about Mitoma, so I said to the other people, 'Who is Mitoma? How can a player who just graduated from college be so good?' he added.
"That day, Mitoma surprised us with Hatate Leo. "We played in Kawasaki at that time, and we were league champions, but they graduated from college and just entered professional soccer," he said. Coach Postecoglou presented the club with the first league championship in 15 years by bringing Yokohama to the top of the Japanese J-League in the 2019 season.
"I tried to recruit Mitoma when I was at Celtic, but Brighton was too sharp for me," he said. "In the end, I brought Hatate, but I told the Celtic people at the time that if Mitoma advances to the Premier League, he will tear up the league." I knew," he insisted.
As coach Postecoglou predicted, when Mitoma became a top Premier League winger through steady performance, Brighton pushed for a long-term contract with Mitoma, and as Mitoma also agreed to renew the contract, Brighton and Mitoma will stay together until June 2027.
When Mitoma renewed his contract, Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi said, "It's good news. Mitoma is Brighton's best player," he said, expressing joy.
Brighton Technical Director David Weir also smiled, saying, "It's fantastic news that a player like Mitoma can be with us in the long run," adding, "Mitoma has become one of Ur's most important players as he quickly adapted to the Premier League last season."
"Mitoma's success also reflects the work of the department that played an important role in recruiting him, and helped him gain important experience through loan and ultimately become a big part of coach De Zerbi's first-team group," he added.
"There is no doubt that our supporters will be happy to hear the news of the renewal of Mitoma," he said, claiming that it is news that fans will be happy with.
Mitoma is known to have reached the rank of "billion-a-week salary" through this renewal, as he has become the core of Brighton in name and reality. British media "London World" recently said, "Brighton star Mitoma Kaoru has agreed to a new five-year contract with the club," adding, "His new five-year contract is worth 80,000 pounds (about 131.5 million won) a week."
Of course, his destination could change even after the renewal. Mitoma was embroiled in rumors of a transfer to Manchester City led by Pep Guardiola in the market last summer, but recently there was a prospect that he would go to FC Barcelona. Although the club is now experiencing some ups and downs due to financial problems, not only Japan but also Asian soccer as a whole paid attention to the news that an Asian player could nest in FC Barcelona for the first time in history.
Spain's Mundo Deportivo said on the 14th, "Barcelona coaching staff and scouts are paying attention to Brighton winger Mitoma. Inside the club, Mitoma's ability is already being watched. Above all, his ability to easily break down the defense from the left side stands out, he said. Barcelona is showing interest in recruiting Mitoma.
"Mitoma, who was the most notable player in the Premier League last season, continues to play at a very high level," he said, stressing that Mitoma is a steady player, not a player who flashes and loses.
Barcelona's top priority is defensive midfielders and strikers. The striker position has been resolved to some extent by recruiting Vitor Hocky, but a defensive midfielder is not yet deserved. This position must be reinforced first.
However, the media said that the possibility of recruiting Mitoma is not low. The media said, "Barcelona has no worries about the right winger position. Top players such as Hafinha, Ferran Torres and Ramin Yamal are playing, he said. "There is no destructive player on the left side after Ansu Fati left." Left-back Alejandro Valde is taking over the role," he said, pointing out the lack of left offensive resources.
"Mitoma is a right-footed man. You can take a shot opportunity very easily by catching the ball from the left and digging inside. "He is good at dribbling on both feet and is very fast, and he can also slip inside or outside," he said, predicting that Mitoma's style of play would be suitable.
The biggest obstacle is Barcelona's desperate financial situation, but it is not expected to cost much to recruit Mitoma, which ends in 2025. The fact that Ansu Fati is playing on loan at Brighton could also be used as a bargaining chip.
Local fans also responded positively. According to a survey conducted by Mundo Deportivo on its own, 2,623 out of 3,593 people agreed to recruit Mitoma. 73% were looking positively at recruiting Mitoma.
It is still only at the level of interest, but if Mitoma actually plays for Barcelona, he will be the first East Asian player to play in the second round of Real Madrid or Barcelona La Liga.
So far, Lee Seung-woo, Baek Seung-ho, and Takefusa Kubo have belonged to two teams, but they have stayed at the youth level, and their debut in the first division has not been successful. Son Heung-min was also linked to rumors of a transfer to Real, but it did not materialize.
However, it is difficult to go to Barcelona immediately this winter because he has renewed his contract, but he will be able to watch the trend after next summer.
With the renewal of his contract with Mitoma, Brighton will be able to prevent the leakage of additional key members of the team. Brighton has already sent away several key midfielders during the transfer market last summer, including Alexis McAllister (Liverpool) and Moises Caicedo (Chelsea).
Even if a club that wants to hang or Mitoma appears, the remaining contract period is long, so it will be able to demand a huge transfer fee. Brighton has already set a new Premier League transfer record by sending Caicedo to Chelsea for as much as 115 million pounds (about 189 billion won) in the summer.
Mitoma is also famous as a soccer player who studies. He graduated from Tsukuba University, one of the most prestigious Japanese soccer universities, and became famous when he was found to have written a thesis on dribbling while graduating. On the one hand, his thesis led to an opportunity for Japanese players' college careers to become a hot topic in Europe. He started his professional career when he joined Kawasaki at the relatively late age of 22, and even though he started only 11 times out of 30 games in the first year of the J-League, he scored 13 goals, drawing expectations.
He then became a target of European clubs in the 2020 season by further enhancing his goal-making ability by scoring eight goals in 20 games in the first half of the J League. In the end, he was caught on Brighton's radar network collecting promising players. During Kawasaki, he played in both games against Daegu FC in the 2020 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL).
Recently, he was nominated for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) International Player of the Year along with Kim Min-jae, raising his stock price. AFC announced the schedule of 'AFC Annual Awards Doha 2022' on its official website on the 13th. AFC's annual award ceremony will be held in Doha, Qatar, on the 31st for the first time in about four years.
AFC Player of the Year is limited to players who play in the Asian League. In 2005, AFC excluded players who could not participate in the award ceremony from the Player of the Year award. For this reason, players such as Park Ji-sung, Tottenham's Lee Young-pyo, and Celtic's Nakamura Shunsuke, who played for Manchester United, could not win the AFC Player of the Year award.
Since then, the controversy has continued by giving the Player of the Year award to players who only played in AFC-hosted competitions, and AFC has created a separate award for players playing in other continental leagues, not Asian continents, since 2012. The award established for them is the Asian International Player of the Year Award.
The first winner was Shinji Kagawa of Japan, who played for Manchester United at the time. In 2013, Japan's Yuto Nagatomo, who played as a starting fullback for Inter Milan, won the award. In 2014, Australian midfielder Mile Yedinak (Crystal Palace) won the honor, and in 2015, Son Heung-min won the award as a member of Tottenham Hotspur, becoming the first Korean national winner. In 2016, Shinji Okazaki of Japan, who led Leicester City to the fairytale Premier League title, was the main character, and in 2017, Son Heung-min won the award again.
In 2018, Frankfurt's key Hasebe Makoto took it, and in 2019, Son Heung-min won the International Player of the Year award again. 2020 has no official winners due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Son Heung-min was ranked first by fan voting, he was not eligible for the AFC official award. No Asian International Player of the Year has been awarded since 2019, with no AFC annual award ceremony held.
Then, at the award ceremony, which will resume for the first time in four years this year, Mitoma will have a three-way battle with Kim Min-jae, who helped Napoli win the league for the first time in 33 years, and Iranian FC Porto striker Mehdi Taremi.
Based on last season's performance, Kim Min-jae is likely to win the award, but Taremi, who scored 22 goals in 33 league matches in Porto and led the team to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, is fiercely chasing. Mitoma will also compete with Kim Min-jae and Taremi based on the power that caused a sensation in the end of soccer along with seven goals and five assists in 24 Premier League games.
Attention is focusing on whether Mitoma, who entrusted his future to Brighton, will continue to perform well and become a Brighton legend or will be able to receive love calls from big clubs like his old teammates who left for the Premier League powerhouse
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