Brighton are being vindicated for rejecting a massive transfer offer from the Saudi Pro League for Kaoru Mitoma in January.
Many expected Brighton to cash in on Kaoru Mitoma. The Japanese is one of the best players at the Amex Stadium, but the Seagulls’ transfer model has seen them move on several key figures before for big money (see Moisés Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister, Marc Cucurella, Ben White etc.) and £75m would have been big money for Mitoma too.
Instead, Brighton kept the 27-year-old and are now being vindicated for that decision. Indeed, Mitoma has taken another step forward in his development. He has scored three goals in his last four Premier League matches and not even that record fully illustrates the level at which Mitoma is operating right now.
No Brighton player has created more Big Chances this season than Mitoma (eight), nor has anyone created more standard chances (32). The 27-year-old is averaging 1.6 successful dribbles per 90 minutes, again more than any of his Brighton teammates. He is also averaging 1.7 key passes per 90 – only Danny Welbeck (2.1) and Georginio Rutter (1.9) are averaging more.
In almost every way, Mitoma is Brighton’s creative spark. He is the player who makes things happen in the attacking third of the pitch, also getting himself into good goalscoring positions – Mitoma’s individual Expected Goals (xG) of 6.8 is the highest within the Brighton squad this season.
These numbers, impressive they may be, still don’t paint the picture of Mitoma’s brilliance quite like the goal he scored in the recent 3-0 win over Chelsea in which he somehow brought a long ball out of the sky with a single touch and guided a finish into the far corner. It was one of the goals of the season so far.
“You don’t see regularly special things like this, but he works really hard,” said Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler after Mitoma’s touch from heaven against Chelsea. “He’s fully committed to the club. He tries to improve himself every day. He is very professional and then on top of that he is able to do special things like this.”
That Mitoma is so comfortable with the ball at his feet shouldn’t be a surprise. He famously wrote his university thesis on dribbling and has his findings into practice. The Japanese international is indeed one of the most effective dribblers in the Premier League. He gives opposition defenders nightmares on a regular basis.
Without Mitoma, Brighton wouldn’t carry the same attacking threat. Hürzeler’s approach is designed to get as many players forward as quickly as possible and the Seagulls rely on Mitoma to stretch the pitch wide and isolate opponents. Without someone of the Japanese’s mould, they would be too predictable.
“When Kaoru always stays active not near the ball, when he knows how to use his speed to do the deep run with the right timing at the right moment, then he is a big, big player,” said Hürzeler. “Because he has everything. He is fast, he is good one against one, he can score goals, he can find solutions in narrow spaces with not a lot of time.”
Not so long ago, Brighton faced a crossroads in their season. After a fast start under new manager Hürzeler, the Seagulls suffered a run of eight league matches without a win. A campaign that looked like being a pursuit of European football had started to become a slump into mid-table mediocrity.
Since then, though, Brighton have won five of their last seven in the Premier League, pushing themselves back up into the top eight, just one point off fifth place which could be enough for Champions League qualification this season. Europe’s great and good could be on their way to the Amex Stadium. Mitoma deserves this sort of platform to further showcase his quality.
Brighton’s decision to keep Mitoma rather than cash in possibly reflects a slight change of transfer market approach for the south coast club. To push even higher up the Premier League table, they might need to hold on to their best players for longer. How will Brighton ever qualify for the Champions League if they have to replace so many key figures in every transfer window?
The way Mitoma is playing, there will be more interest in him come the summer. Brighton might have even bigger offers than the £75m offered by the Saudi Pro League to consider. For the time being, though, Mitoma’s brilliance continues to shine in blue and white. The Japanese dribbler is making the Seagulls fly.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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