Do we like them?

Do we like Kaoru Mitoma?

Our score: 6 out of 10. A decent record with two blemishes and very little known about his values off the pitch, so a cautious middle-to-good score.

Mitoma is the bloke who turned down a pro contract at 18 because he didn't feel ready, and went to university instead. He studied at Tsukuba from 2016 to 2019, then signed with Kawasaki Frontale and later Brighton, spending his first year on loan in Belgium. It's a nice story of a player who did it the slow way.

The messy bit came in late 2025. Brighton's academy posted a photo of him smiling while holding a mock football card of Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese officer who kept fighting WWII for decades. Chinese fans were furious, and the club apologised for offence caused in China, calling the post a mistake. Mitoma hadn't commented publicly at the time of the report, so it reads as a club cock-up he was caught up in, not his words.

The recent thing: in May he hurt his hamstring in a win over Wolves and missed Japan's World Cup squad. Coach Hajime Moriyasu said the medical team thought it would be difficult for him to regain fitness during the tournament. Then in July, Kyodo reported he was suspected of running a red light when his car hit a cyclist in Tokyo.

His management blamed a failure to observe the road ahead and said he checked on the cyclist and followed officers' instructions. They apologised to the injured person and said he takes it very seriously, and the cyclist was reported to have bruises. That's his side, and it's still a mark against him until the legal process is done.

As for the good stuff, we couldn't find any charity work or causes, and we won't invent some. What we did find is a modest streak: he returned to his old uni in 2023 and said he wanted to be an example to future students. Fans also seem to love his dribbling and humility more than anything else.