Yoshinori Mutō (now playing for Vissel Kobe)

Will prove to be a useful signing as an adaptable forward I reckon.

Has nobody checked the planes destination?

We've needed an athletic competitive forward player that can perform that second striker role, as competition to Perez at the very least. I still expect us to bring in Rondon on loan as the one to lead the line.

That would be an improvement on what we had last year, tbh. Rondon has shown in the past, in La Liga, that he can bag a decent number of goals if in the right set up.

Maybe Rafa thinks he can do a similar role to what Dirk Kuyt did for him at Liverpool

Scoring record isn't particularly awe-inspiring for a striker, and he's moving to a higher level now.

 

Ah well, always had a soft spot for Japanese players, I was a huge Captain Tsubasa fan as a kid.

 

He is not a striker.

 

Fair enough, all my knowledge on him comes from his whoscored page. Is he an outside forward? A second striker?

 

Yea basically like that, just like Ayoze, a No.10. Of course you can stick him to play upfront but his natural position is a wide / second striker.

 

A good signing imo. We badly need someone to play No.10 when Ayoze is in bad form.

I also think Perez isn't really suited to the #10 role how Rafa envisions it, normally it needs a lot of pulling out wide, and Perez doesn't really have the pace to exploit that properly. Maybe Mutu will offer more in that dept.

I really really hope he's good.

Cult hero in the making

The fat cunt wanted to promote his shit business in Asia and it has taken him 12 years to sign a player from that region. Says it all.

Ridiculing the method, not the player. We go for poor quality players, there's no getting away from that. If they end up being decent it's through luck not design.

 

Poor seems like a tad exaggerated, they're both internationals. If that's poor what adjective best fits the like of Joselu?

 

Poor - as in he's a player we went for.

 

Then who are the players people would be happy for? Any names?

Whichever names are on Rafa's preferred list, rather than the ones on his 3rd or 4th list. 

Scoring record isn't particularly awe-inspiring for a striker, and he's moving to a higher level now.

 

Ah well, always had a soft spot for Japanese players, I was a huge Captain Tsubasa fan as a kid.

 

He is not a striker.

 

Fair enough, all my knowledge on him comes from his whoscored page. Is he an outside forward? A second striker?

 

Yea basically like that, just like Ayoze, a No.10. Of course you can stick him to play upfront but his natural position is a wide / second striker.

 

A good signing imo. We badly need someone to play No.10 when Ayoze is in bad form.

 

Call me nitpicker, but I think we need someone that improves on the dudes that play badly no matter their form!

 

I just want to look at NUFC's squad and be able to say "yeah, this guy will do 10+ a season". Not 15, just 10...

 

I understand your point, I just think when Ayoze is in form he is our best player, so it is a bit harsh to hope someone cost under 10m could already be our best player lol

 

Like Ayoze, Muto can play striker when needed, but he is definitely not the "striker" type we want to lead the line.

Yup, close to it at least.

I'm wondering if Rafa is thinking of having Ayoze and Muto both playing as "second strikers". There were times last season when that's where Ayoze played as opposed to a #10, and it might suit Rafa's pressing style to have two players of that type harrying the defence.

The question is, of course, would they score enough goals?

Eeyer marra, Mewto is proper forrin shite. Wey've got reeyal British pleyers like Dylan McGewch.

Okazaki at Leicester has proved to be a fantastic support striker that really helps get the best out of Vardy. So much so that he has managed to fight off £25m Iheanacho so far.

Hoping Muto can bring similar type of qualities with more threat going forward.

OK, so I had a cracking conversation with my Mainz-supporting PM about Muto.. It's fair to say he loves him - it was like he was describing his son. Apparently he's a very clever, humble, brave and hardworking lad. My boss even referred to him as the "golden son/sun" whatever the fuck this means He talked several minutes about his character and personality before I interrupted him to ask about his actual footballing qualities.

Muto has adapted very quickly to the German league and even spoke understandable German in his first few months there, until he made some mistake in an interview, which resulted in the media making a bit of fun of him. From then on he only did interviews with an interpreter, cause "he didn't want to offend the fans with his broken German". Also said that he had a bad knee injury two years ago and suffered a re-occurrence after preseason, causing him to miss nearly an year. Despite that he has returned as fit and athletic as ever and hasn't had any injury problems since.

Football-wise Muto is more of a support striker than a target man. Despite that he has almost exclusively led the line for Mainz as a lone striker "cause they had nobody better at that role". He runs the channels and often looks for space on the wings. He's not tall but very athletic and surprisingly strong in aerial duels. His best attributes are his athleticism, agility, work rate and clever off the ball movement.

All in all, very encouraging report Seems like the lad can fit in great at the Ayoze position or even leading the line in a Gayle-sort of way. I guess his pace means that he can be used as a more attacking option on the wings too. Sounds like a perfect Rafa-type attacker.

Shouldn't have any work permit issues should he?

Yoshi on the plane like

Mewtwo. I can't believe I missed that!

Dying to see Rafa sub him via pokeball

A wild Muto appears!

OK, so I had a cracking conversation with my Mainz-supporting PM about Muto.. It's fair to say he loves him - it was like he was describing his son. Apparently he's a very clever, humble, brave and hardworking lad. My boss even referred to him as the "golden son/sun" whatever the fuck this means He talked several minutes about his character and personality before I interrupted him to ask about his actual footballing qualities.

 

Muto has adapted very quickly to the German league and even spoke understandable German in his first few months there, until he made some mistake in an interview, which resulted in the media making a bit of fun of him. From then on he only did interviews with an interpreter, cause "he didn't want to offend the fans with his broken German". Also said that he had a bad knee injury two years ago and suffered a re-occurrence after preseason, causing him to miss nearly an year. Despite that he has returned as fit and athletic as ever and hasn't had any injury problems since.

 

Football-wise Muto is more of a support striker than a target man. Despite that he has almost exclusively led the line for Mainz as a lone striker "cause they had nobody better at that role". He runs the channels and often looks for space on the wings. He's not tall but very athletic and surprisingly strong in aerial duels. His best attributes are his athleticism, agility, work rate and clever off the ball movement.

 

All in all, very encouraging report Seems like the lad can fit in great at the Ayoze position or even leading the line in a Gayle-sort of way. I guess his pace means that he can be used as a more attacking option on the wings too. Sounds like a perfect Rafa-type attacker.

What did he say that was misinterpreted?

 

 

What did he say that was misinterpreted?

Sieg heil

OK, so I had a cracking conversation with my Mainz-supporting PM about Muto.. It's fair to say he loves him - it was like he was describing his son. Apparently he's a very clever, humble, brave and hardworking lad. My boss even referred to him as the "golden son/sun" whatever the fuck this means He talked several minutes about his character and personality before I interrupted him to ask about his actual footballing qualities.

 

Muto has adapted very quickly to the German league and even spoke understandable German in his first few months there, until he made some mistake in an interview, which resulted in the media making a bit of fun of him. From then on he only did interviews with an interpreter, cause "he didn't want to offend the fans with his broken German". Also said that he had a bad knee injury two years ago and suffered a re-occurrence after preseason, causing him to miss nearly an year. Despite that he has returned as fit and athletic as ever and hasn't had any injury problems since.

 

Football-wise Muto is more of a support striker than a target man. Despite that he has almost exclusively led the line for Mainz as a lone striker "cause they had nobody better at that role". He runs the channels and often looks for space on the wings. He's not tall but very athletic and surprisingly strong in aerial duels. His best attributes are his athleticism, agility, work rate and clever off the ball movement.

 

All in all, very encouraging report Seems like the lad can fit in great at the Ayoze position or even leading the line in a Gayle-sort of way. I guess his pace means that he can be used as a more attacking option on the wings too. Sounds like a perfect Rafa-type attacker.

 

What did he say that was misinterpreted?

...

 

What did he say that was misinterpreted?

I don't know My colleague's English isn't the best so it's possible that I've misinterpreted that bit. He was saying it as an example of how respectful he has been towards the club and the fans.

Forgot to add that he ended our conversation by declaring that he was happy with the 10 million fee, which slightly contradicts everything he told me before

Forgot to add that he ended our conversation by declaring that he was happy with the 10 million fee, which slightly contradicts everything he told me before

Signed for 2.5m and in last year of contract.

Yeah it's all relative, i imagine Mainz are not exactly flushed with cash either.

Did he feature much at the World Cup? I've got him as 1 start and 1 sub at a glance...