Japan winger Kauro Mitoma was among the players identified by Liverpool before instead making the move to Brighton, with “regret” over not pursuing a deal.
Brighton are renowned for their excellent recruitment, seemingly able to pluck players from obscurity and swiftly make them Premier League ready.
Part of their model is to create sizeable profits on those signings while the cycle continues, with Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella and Alexis Mac Allister among their most high-profile sales.
It works for Brighton as they are able to take more low-cost risks with less pressure to win trophies and go deep in European and cup competitions.
Liverpool’s recruitment staff are still aware of those players, but they are rarely able to gamble on potential without proven experience – even if the data backs it up.
That was the case with Mitoma, who joined Brighton from Kawasaki Frontale in 2021 for £2.7 million – spending his first season with sister club Union SG – having been flagged by Liverpool’s then director of research Ian Graham.
“Kaoru Mitoma was the best player in Japan, rating above the Premier League average,” Dr Graham wrote in his book, ‘How to Win the Premier League: The Inside Story of Football’s Data Revolution’.
“It was very rare for us to rate a player in Japan anywhere near Premier League level.
“It’s still a source of regret to me that I didn’t insist that Mitoma be more seriously considered as a potential Liverpool signing.”
Mitoma, who has scored 14 goals and laid on 15 assists in 77 games for the Seagulls and would likely have been an alternative to Luis Diaz, is not the only Brighton player noted by Liverpool’s data team.
“Me and my colleague Daf Steele used to keep lists of players who looked outstanding in their domestic leagues but were either not quite good enough for Liverpool or played in a style that didn’t fit ours,” Graham continued.
Graham, who left Liverpool in the summer of 2023, also named Cucurella, Pascal Gross, Enock Mwepu and Pervis Estupinan as players tracked.
It should be stressed that there is no guaranteed any of those players would have developed in the same way at Liverpool or, more importantly, reached the level required.
But it is certainly interesting to hear of Graham’s regret at not pushing for Mitoma in particular.
Sky Sports are now reporting that Brentford‘s Bryan Mbeumo and Bournemouth‘s Antoine Semenyo are both being scouted ahead of possible transfers in 2025.
