Kuala Lumpur: With the start of the 2016 AFC Champions League Group Stage just around the corner, we take a closer look at FC Tokyo's Kota Mizunuma.
KEY PLAYER: KOTA MIZUNUMA - FC Tokyo
AFC Champions League Record
Appearances: 0
Goals: 0
PROFILE
The son of a former star of both the Japanese national team and Yokohama F.Marinos, Kota Mizunuma was long anointed as the next prodigy set to grace the International Stadium Yokohama.
Unfortunately things didn’t work out as planned at his hometown club and he went on loan to firstly J2 outfit Tochigi and then Sagan Tosu where he starred in the club’s first ever J1 season in 2012.
Moving on a permanent deal the following year he quickly established himself as an integral part of the side, scheming in an attacking midfield role where he became a vital source of assists and goals for the unfashionable southern club.
Lured to FC Tokyo at the start of the current season he was a destructive force in the club’s 9-0 playoff thrashing of Chonburi that booked their ticket to the group stage and he looms as a major attacking weapon for new coach Hiroshi Jofuku.
IMPORTANCE TO THE TEAM
Whilst able to operate in a wider role on the right it’s likely that the 25-year-old will be asked to fill the central playmaking duties as a ‘number 10’ behind veteran striker Ryoichi Maeda.
A diminutive creator who loves to run at players and who possesses a sharp range of passing, if he’s given the freedom to control things in the final third Mizunuma could emerge as one of the key attacking pieces in the FC Tokyo side.
ONES TO WATCH
Another off-season signing in a similar mould to Mizunuma is former Kofu forward Takuma Abe, a player Jofuku knew when their paths briefly crossed at the club in 2014 and who he has long admired. Korean international Ha Dae-sung is another new arrival and a player with vast ACL experience from his time with FC Seoul and Beijing Guoan and he’ll look to shore up the central midfield alongside the talented Takuji Yonemoto.
Source: the-afc.com