Japanese striker Mao Hosoya (22-Kashiwa Reysol) has been 바카라recommended to AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands), ranked 31st in the 2023-24 UEFA Club Rankings, as a player to consider signing.
The Dutch ‘Subskamer Scout’ said on 8 August (Korean time), “I have told Alkmaar that Hosoya is worth watching. He has the potential to be a top-class player.” The Dutch summer transfer market closes on 1 September.
Subskamer Scouts is a football talent agency founded in 2011 in Groningen, the Netherlands. The Netherlands is ranked fifth in the European league.
Hosoya Mao (right) makes his Japan national team A-match debut against China in the 2022 East Asian Football Confederation E-1 Championship match. Photo: AFPBBNews=News1
Hosoya was recognised as one of Japan’s brightest prospects with the 2022 J1 League Young Player Award. The same year, he made his national A-match debut against China in a 0-0 draw at the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship.
“The question (of whether he will leave now) remains,” said a ‘Husqvarna Scout’. Hosoya could finish the rest of the season with Kashiwa Reysol and make a move to Europe in the January 2024 transfer window.”
Fifth-year scout Marc Pineu (Portugal) compared Hosoya to French football superstar Kylian Mbappe (25-Paris Saint-Germain), citing the similarities of being a “5ft 10in centre-forward”.
Pigne is in charge of youth scouting in East Asia. “Hosoya being called the ‘Mbappe of Japan’ does have some significance (although not much). Their speed is similar,” he explains.
“Not all professional players have attacking instincts,” says Pigne, who emphasises Hosoya’s natural talent as a forward, “and technically he will be a valuable asset to Japanese football.”
“We usually recommend that Japanese players go to Belgium,” Pigne said, “but Hosoya can make the most of his strengths in the English Premier League or the German Bundesliga and get good chances.”
Belgium is ranked eighth in the EFL, England first and Germany fourth. “Augsburg (Germany) could make a move for Hosoya, either by giving him a chance to prove himself or by signing him and sending him out on a one-year loan to another team,” Pigneau predicted.