Kaoru Mitoma

[BlueDan91]

Was surprised to see he made his professional debut at 23.

But did some research on him and it's quite fascinating- if not already covered in this thread.

He chose to attend the University of Tsukuba rather than enter the professional game at 18 and it has since attracted considerable media attention that he wrote his thesis on the art of dribbling.

 

[Silva2021]

I don’t think City should be picking up these kind of deals TBH.

It is a strategy that carries a lot of risk.

We should be buying proven quality international players.

We should be buying the very highly rated best young players in the world

The other places should be for the best academy.

There are some clubs who are brilliant in the transfer market, but will no doubt have some failures and also give game time to ones who work and ones who don’t.

 

[Cheeky Txiki]

I don’t think City should be picking up these kind of deals TBH.

It is a strategy that carries a lot of risk.

We should be buying proven quality international players.

We should be buying the very highly rated best young players in the world

The other places should be for the best academy.

There are some clubs who are brilliant in the transfer market, but will no doubt have some failures and also give game time to ones who work and ones who don’t.

Why not a bit of both? There is a different kind of satisfaction when you pull an Alvarez type of deal to when you pull a Haaland one.

 

[LesBleuMiserable]

We own a club in Japan so I’d like to think we could identify good talents from that region.

Just need to hang around Uni campuses. I’d volunteer if they covered my expenses!

 

[cleavers]

That's not to say we haven't had some bargains. Alvarez (14m) could turn out to be one of the bargains of the century. Gundogan (20m) and Bernardo (43m) have been incredible value for money but they were already very highly rated across Europe.

Do you not think Akanji was a bargain @ £15m ? He's been very good for us, and still only 27, he could play 6 or 7 years here as a CB.

 

[domalino]

Their transfer policy is fantastic. The bargains they find so consistently is staggering really. Fair play to them.

Mitoma is electric, brilliant to watch.

They’ve signed 40 players in the last 3 seasons. Their position as a safe midtable PL team means they can take gambles and when it pays off they look like geniuses, and when it doesn’t work no one pays attention because it’s Brighton.

 

[yatesy94.]

Looks an intelligent player some finish that today. However dealing with Brighton would think twice they're the Napoli of PL drastically inflate the value of their own players.

 

[twosips]

They’ve signed 40 players in the last 3 seasons. Their position as a safe midtable PL team means they can take gambles and when it pays off they look like geniuses, and when it doesn’t work no one pays attention because it’s Brighton.

Still, it is impressive that they're smart enough to take those gambles. City, or the CFG at least, sign about the same amount, if not more, as well. I'm aware it's easier or more necessary for Brighton to try and integrate one or two of these, but I still think City could do it better and there could be sumat to learn from their approach. How many of our CFG signings actually turn into PL players? Hit rate isn't too great. Brighton are very good at picking up low cost players, loaning them well and picking the right ones to return. So what if the majority don't work? Most cost about 5m. They covered most of the gambles when they sold White to Arsenal.

I'd say Zinchenko aside (which even then wasn't really planned) we've not been good at that. Maybe Douglas Luiz came closest and was only a work permit away from being a squad member. I'd have liked to have seen more bravery with trying one or two around the squad to see what they could achieve. Yangel Herrera is a good example. He was killing it a couple of years a go at la Liga level and we've just kept loaning him when he could have stepped up with a little luck as an understudy. Other than that it feels like we sign a lot that don't really get near. Or if they do have a good season there's a reluctance to take a risk, which feels unnecessary given how small our squad is and how likely they'd be happy to sit about as a rotation player given their lower profile.

Brighton have now successfully bought a load of seemingly champions league ready players who are all comfortable in a possession based system. Cucurella. White. Estupinan. Mitoma. Trossard. Caicedo. Mac Allister. Bissouma
etc. I'd be fine with any of these if City signed them. It's impressive.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

Still, it is impressive that they're smart enough to take those gambles. City, or the CFG at least, sign about the same amount, if not more, as well.

I'm not even sure I'd classify it as a gamble because the risk is so incredibly low.

Their scouting department is quite clearly excellent and even if eight out of ten transfers turn out to be duds then the cost was minimal and they'll still rake in the money from the other two.

 

[Asa's left peg]

They’ve signed 40 players in the last 3 seasons. Their position as a safe midtable PL team means they can take gambles and when it pays off they look like geniuses, and when it doesn’t work no one pays attention because it’s Brighton.

A bit like Utd and Sancho, you mean?