Takefusa Kubo (22, Real Sociedad), the next ace of the Japanese national soccer team, overtook Kim Min-jae (27, Bayern Munich), who is tied in ransom, to rank No. 1 in the ransom of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Transfermarkt, a site specializing in the transfer market, recorded 60 million euros (about 86 billion won) in newly renewed players’ ransom ahead of the January 2024 transfer market on the 23rd (Korea time), ranking first among AFC national players.
Gubo has led the team’s offense by scoring six goals and three assists and one assist in the UEFA Champions League in Spain’s La Liga in the 2023/24 season. The team is now making it to the sixth place in the league and the round of 16 in the Champions League.
Gubo grew up at the FC Barcelona Academy and formed a close and rivalry with Lee Kang-in, who then grew up at the Valencia Academy. Following FIFA’s disciplinary action in 2015, Gubo briefly returned to FC Tokyo and began his senior career. In 2019, he moved to Barcelona’s rival Real Madrid. After renting out Mallorca, Villarreal and Getafe, he moved to Real Sociedad last summer. 토토사이트 추천
When he signed with Sociedad, Gubo signed a buyout clause worth 60 million euros. It is equivalent to his current ransom. After signing a five-year contract through the summer of 2027, he played as an ace in the team with nine goals and seven assists in La Liga in the last 2022/23 season. Having shown off his skills, Gubo is expected to continue to play well this season and have a high career season.
Gubo recorded a ransom of 50 million euros (71.7 billion won) in October, but he rose 10 million euros (about 14.3 billion won) and 20 percent from two months ago, ranking first among AFC players. Kim Min-jae, who is ranked second, moved to Bayern Munich, a big club in the German Bundesliga, through the transfer market this summer. He headed to Munich after the 50 million euros (about 71.7 billion won) buyout clause that he had signed with Napoli was triggered.
Kim Min-jae, who led his team to the Serie A championship for the first time in 33 years with Napoli in the 2022/23 season, received the attention of other big clubs by winning the league’s best defender award just after his first season in the big league. Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur paid attention, but they are playing in the Bundesliga by choosing Munich.
Kim appeared in 15 Bundesliga matches this season. At the end of the first half, he started all of the league matches and played 13 full-time. In the UEFA Champions League, he started all five matches except for his hip injury in the fourth match against Copenhagen, leading his team to first place in the group and a place in the round of 16.
Kim has maintained a ransom of 60 million euros since January. However, he was older than Gubo and fell to second place. Kaoru Mitoma (26, Brighton and Hove Albion) and Son Heung-min (31, Tottenham Hotspur) both ranked third and fourth are tied at 50 million euros.
Takehiro Tomiyasu (25, Arsenal) was 30 million euros (about 43 billion won), up 5 million euros (about 7.1 billion won) from last June. Hiroki Ito (24, Stuttgart), Hwang Hee-chan (27, Wolverhampton Wanderers), and Lee Kang-in (22, PSG), ranked eighth, all recorded 22 million euros (about 31.5 billion won).
Ranked ninth was Daichi Kamada, 27, who recorded 20 million euros in ransom for his poor performance in Lazio, which he moved to this summer. He won the UEFA Europa League title in Frankfurt (Germany), but failed to adapt in Lazio. Ranked 10th place was Mehdi Taremi, 31, of FC Porto. He maintained his 18 million euros in ransom.
Korean and Japanese players have been shown to be actively engaged and protecting their pride in Asian soccer as well in European leagues. However, Hwang Hee-chan, who has scored eight goals this season in the Premier League, is less than half of Mitoma, who has scored only three goals this season, making it impossible to erase the feeling that Korean players have been treated somewhat poorly. Hwang is only one year older than Mitoma. He made his debut in the Premier League in 2021, a year earlier than Mitoma.
This regret may be even greater if the ranking is widened to 25th place. Among the top 25 Asian players in terms of value, 18 Japanese players are ranked. For Korea, except for Kim Min-jae, Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan, and Lee Kang-in, 23-year-old Young-gun Hong Hyun-suk, who plays for Hent in Belgium, barely showed his business card among Japanese players in 24th place. On the one hand, it can be said that Japanese players have entered Europe in such a variety of ways, which has led to a surge in value in Europe.