Brighton midfielder Mitoko Kaoru (28) played in the away game against Tottenham in the second half, and contributed to the 4-1 victory by scoring an assist in an additional 3-1 time. However, the team finished 8th and missed out on the European Cup next season.

This season, Mitomo played in 36 of 38 games, achieving double-digit goals for the first Japanese player in the Premier League. He also increased his assist to 4. After the match, in an interview with U-NEXT, he said, “If I could have scored more goals and assisted more, I might have been able to compete in Europe (the cup match). I'm still regretting myself, but I think I could have done quite a bit by missing two games throughout the season. I want to reflect on it again and make it to the next season.”

In the previous match against Liverpool on the 19th, he played in the 20th minute of the second half, with a 1-2 win, and four minutes later he scored his 10th goal of the season, leading the team to a 3-2 comeback victory. In the match against Tottenham on the day, he came on as a substitute from the start of the second half, with a 0-1 lead, and changed the course.

“The game was similar to the previous match. This time we got out of halftime, so I think we managed to create a good flow. We first came in with the intention of creating a starting point on the left side.” Regarding his play, he recalled, “I'm satisfied in the sense that I was able to get a winning turn of events, but I made some mistakes. But I'm satisfied because victory was the most important thing in the end.”

According to Germany Sky Sports, big clubs that will be competing in the European Champions League (CL) next season, such as Bayern Munich (Germany) and Arsenal (England), are interested in attacking Japan national teams.

As attention is focused on the trends, he was eliminated from the Japanese national team members who will be competing in the final Asian qualifiers of the World Cup in June. Regarding his future plans, he said, “I want to first heal the injury and prepare for the next season.”