Takefusa Kubo is in the radar of Manchester City, Newcastle, PSG and even tracking back to former team Real Madrid or his boyhood side Barcelona where he got most of his football trainings. Some analyst have said the Japanese Messi will explode under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola.
Most of you will have forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that at the tender age of 22, Takefusa Kubo is already with the eighth club of his fledgling career.
Just about any footballer with that kind of career will likely be a journeyman, forced into a nomadic lifestyle. Not Kubo, though; anyone who's been watching him these past 13 months will already know he's pulling on the blue and white kit of the club in which he was born to perform.
Second top of La Liga's scoring charts; six man of the match awards this season, more than anyone else, including the mighty Jude Bellingham; as confident and technically adept as anybody in Spain; Real Sociedad's most important player; most exciting icon of La Real's thrilling playing style. This 5-foot-6 dynamo of skill, daring and energy is, without question, very special,
The Secret Is Out, Real Sociedad Has A Superstar - Takefusa Kubo
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Kubo joined Real Sociedad on a permanent deal in summer of 2022, becoming the first Japanese player to sign with the club. After spell of loan moves to Mallorca, Villarreal and Getafe, Kubo marked his debut by scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win away to Cádiz in their opening game of the season in La Liga.
On 18 September 2023, Kubo's adept performance against his former club Real Madrid earned him recognition despite Real Sociedad's 2-1 defeat. On 22 October 2023, Kubo was instrumental in leading Real Sociedad to a 1-0 win over Mallorca, earning the man-of-the-match title for his performance. Now the spotlight had turned to him again and reinforced comparisons made with Leo Messi.
"He reminds one of Messi, the way he can pull away with the ball from defenders. He's very direct, and he can do unusual things, but it's unfair to compare him to Messi, possibly the greatest player in history—to put that weight on his shoulders," says Miguel Angel Lara, a journalist with Marca
"More than his technical ability, what impresses me the most is his mentality. He looks for the ball. He plays like he's still playing with a bunch of kids. He doesn't show any signs of inferiority. He's brave. He never looks to pass backwards. He's always on the front foot. This is important. He's a guy with a lot of personality."
This is Why Every Team Want Takefusa Kubo
Kubo, who previously signed with Real Madrid, joined Barcelona's youth academy in 2011. Oscar Hernandez, who worked as a coach with Barca from 2007 until 2017, was tracking him for a few years before Kubo enrolled at La Masia and had no doubts about recommending him to the club. His qualities were obvious.
"He has the three qualities you look for in a player—rapid decision-making in reduced space, the ability to create space for teammates and his speed; his movement into open spaces is incredible," says Hernandez.
"He's also a player who is versatile. He's chameleonic. His usual position is on the right wing, with an ability to cut inside, but he can also play in midfield or centre-forward. He's got a good left foot. He knows how to take advantage of a situation.
"He can adapt to different styles too. He was schooled at La Masia to play possession-based football—to know how to occupy space, to know where the ball will arrive, to generate numerical superiority, to create more options for passing, short and long. On the other hand, he's good at quick transitions, because he's fast and he's got good control. He's an intelligent footballer."
At La Masia, Kubo excelled. In the 2012-2013 season, he was the top scorer in his age group, bagging 74 goals in 30 games, but the ban Barcelona incurred by FIFA for illegally signing underaged players from overseas meant he had to return to Japan, where he joined FC Tokyo, in 2015. Barcelona kept tabs on him and looked to be in pole position to sign him once he turned 18 in June 2019, but Real Madrid snatched him from under their noses.
"Barca lost Kubo because they didn't have an agreement with him—not a financial one or a sporting one," says Hernandez. "Between all the people that had to agree about him at Barcelona, there wasn't any agreement for different reasons. So the relationship Kubo had for several years with the club was broken. The player studied offers from other European clubs, and it was the one from Real Madrid that was the most interesting one for him.
"It's a pity Barcelona [missed out] on him. I think he is a player made for playing at Barca. He was formed at the club's cantera [youth academy]. He had everything to be a success at Barcelona—he knew the club, the city, the language. He learnt how to play the club's specific position game. When he returned to Japan, we tracked him. I had been watching out for him since 2008. So of course it's a shame."
There was a fever that brewed in Japan about his progress at Real Madrid, which started building on his impressive performances for Japan in Copa America. Clips of him scoring goals in Real Madrid's training sessions are going viral all before he had made his competitive debut with the club.
Kubo has shown remarkable maturity so far, though, in handling the expectations that swirl around him. It's something that has struck Sean Carroll, a journalist who has been covering Japanese football for a decade.
"He's very self-assured," says Carroll. "Every now and again players come through like Nakata or Keisuke Honda who are confident like Kubo, but usually they're fairly shy. They look uncomfortable under the glare of the media. They seem happy to play along with the hierarchy, and avoid stepping out of line, but whenever I've seen Kubo he always seems sure of himself.
"I remember the media gave him this nickname 'Kubo Kun'—kun is an affectionate name given to male children. Sergio Aguero, for example, has 'Kun Aguero' on his shirt, which comes from watching a Japanese manga cartoon on television when he was a kid. But when the press started calling him 'Kubo Kun,' he came out and said, 'Will you stop referring to me as that? I'm in the first-team squad. I'm a regular player. Can you use the [honorific] "senshu" instead, the same as with other players?' He was probably about 16 or 17 at the time. It stood out that he had that self-confidence. He's always seemed nonplussed by the excitement around him. It doesn't seem to affect him."
Despite his sterling performances, there was still no room for Kubo to play La Liga football with Real Madrid. Zinedine Zidane's squad is already top-heavy with attacking players, most notably the club's marquee signing, Eden Hazard.
"There's not space in the squad for Kubo at the moment," says Lara. "Raul would prefer him in Castilla, and Zidane as well would like to keep him close. If he performs really well, they could promote him like what happened with Vinicius Junior
Real Madrid is a tough place—probably the toughest club in the world—to make it as a professional footballer. Carroll cites the case of Martin Odegaard, the Norwegian prodigy who was signed by Real Madrid in a multi-million-euro deal to much fanfare as a 16-year-old in 2015. Several years later, he didn't convince Real Madrid he had what it takes.
Kubo might be made of sterner stuff. He has already made his mark playing on loan with Mallorca, Villarreal and Getafe. Now he is up again showing he is the real deal at Real Sociedad
"It's a beautiful story so far, Kubo's," says Hernandez. "Let's see where it takes him."
