Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton: From the university dribbling thesis to brilliance in Belgium and finishing like Thierry Henry | Football News

As of October 2021, Kaoru Mitoma has not started a game since moving to Europe. He is on loan and on the bench for Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium. But with the team two goals and one man down to Seraing, they needed something different.

Mitoma arrived at half time. At full-time, he has inspired a remarkable comeback, scoring an improbable hat-trick in a 4-2 win. “It was the Kaoru Mitoma show,” Christian Burgess, the English Union defender, told me Sky Sports. “He just destroyed them.”

Here is a glimpse of what is becoming an increasingly frequent sight for Premier League viewers. Since breaking into Brighton’s starting line-up in their win over Chelsea, Mitoma has been a revelation, emerging as one of their most exciting players.

The opening goal against Leicester on Saturday was his best, finding the top corner of Danny Ward’s net from outside the penalty area. Leandro Trossard has left for Arsenal but Brighton supporters are convinced his replacement can do better.

Mitoma inspired his comeback at Wolves, scoring home and away against Arsenal, starting a recent defeat at Everton and shining again in the win over Liverpool. A dribbler who can glide beyond the defense and an unusually calm finisher, his presence in full flow is a delight.

Burgess has predicted this impact, whether it is tipping off Brighton fans to stick to the fantasy team or mentioning to goalkeeper Jason Steele during the pre-season game that Mitoma is a real result. It didn’t take long for Burgess to be convinced.

“I remember one of my first training sessions,” he said.

“He was just electric. The first few steps were so fast that he destroyed my friend Jonas Bager. Fortunately, he was in my team, so me and the other Dane Casper Nielsen just laughed at Jonas. He passed him three times. easily.

“Jonas wasn’t someone who wanted to do it to him. He was like, ‘Watch this.’ The next time he just asked Kaoru out. We just laughed because it was the only way to stop him. Jonas, bless him, wasn’t the fastest, but nobody had a chance.

“That’s my first memory of him. You can just see he’s so good. He’s got technical ability and obviously he’s got the physical attributes. transition.”

The opening goal at Goodison Park was perhaps the clearest example of that quality. He only touched the ball three times – one to evade Nathan Patterson, another to skip beyond Conor Coady and finally to stroke the ball beyond Jordan Pickford.

Just like the goal against Arsenal just a few days earlier, Mitoma headed into the far corner. Now there are only a few examples, but it is enough to draw comparisons with former teammates in Belgium.

“He finished like Thierry Henry,” Burgess said. “He’s not very happy when he ends up in the far corner, whether it’s in training or in a game. It’s strange because most people panic, but he has a lot of time on the ball in those situations.”

The Mitoma game is about more than goals. He is the only player in the Premier League to rank in the top 10 for goals scored from open play and assists from open play per 90 minutes. In other words, nobody counts and make it as regularly as he does.

His skills in one-on-one situations allowed him to find his position, ranking third for dribble completions per 90 minutes this season. Our old friends in the Union may be the first to be arrested on European soil, but they will not be the last.

Maybe it helps that Mitoma is a student of the game, quite literally. He chose to attend the University of Tsukuba instead of entering the professional game at the age of 18 and began to attract media attention writing a thesis on the art of dribbling.

Strangely, that means he has a lot in common with Burgess, who was studying history at Birmingham University when he was offered a contract at Middlesbrough. Not that the two knew the same route in the game.

“I found it on social media, it’s an amazing story. Kaoru doesn’t speak much English so you can’t find out much about him. All we know is that he came from Japan, signed with Brighton, and now he’s with them. We don’t know anything about him.

“But he is a very good boy, humble and quiet. He just smiles and laughs at jokes even if he doesn’t understand but I think he knows more than he can understand. But to take things out of people is more difficult.

“It’s really hard for him because he doesn’t speak English, so you don’t hear much from him. Imagine not being able to communicate. .”

Really, it’s not just a good thing. It could be as expected as Mitoma has only made 23 starts in league football since moving to Europe. At 25, his university background probably meant he was a late developer. There is more to come.

“It’s funny because he doesn’t start every game for us. He usually comes on when the opposition is a bit tired and his pace will blow him out of the water. go and start playing 90 minutes.

“A different side of him started to come out in the play-offs. You see him fighting more. Against Club Brugge, he really put his body into it. you have a special player on your hands.”

A similar process occurred in Brighton. Mitoma completed all of their Premier League matches just once before the World Cup but have now finished in four of their last five. This underlines the growing importance of this sense that it may be time.

“To see him play in the World Cup, it’s really tough. I’m proud to play with him. There’s no ego with him, so it’s great to see him do well at Brighton and he’s young so he’ll develop. He’s just a player top.”