Vissel Kobe striker Yoshinori Muto Named J.League’s Top Player

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:34 JST, December 11, 2024

YOKOHAMA — Striker Yoshinori Muto, who helped lead Vissel Kobe to a domestic double with a second straight J.League championship and Emperor’s Cup title, was named the league’s Player of the Year on Tuesday night.

“I went through a lot of twists and turns to get to this point,” Muto said after accepting the trophy at the gala J.League Awards ceremony at Yokohama Arena.

Muto was also among three Vissel players — the most of any team — who were selected to the Best XI. Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka placed two players each on the squad.

The 32-year-old Muto, who debuted with FC Tokyo, headed overseas and joined Mainz in the German Bundesliga in 2015 before moving to the English Premier League’s Newcastle in 2018.

He also had a stint on loan at Spain’s Eibar, but his years in Europe were plagued with knee injuries and he spent over a year being completely left off match-day rosters.

“It was an experience from which I wanted to run away, it made me stronger both as a soccer player and as a person,” Muto said.

He returned to Japan and joined Vissel in 2021. This season he led the defending champions with 13 goals, even after playing through a broken rib suffered in April.

Joining Muto on the Best XI team from Vissel were fellow forward Yuya Osako and defender Matheus Thuler.

Yokohama F Marinos forward Anderson Lopes, who shared the top-scoring honors with Osako last season, won it by himself this time with a league-high 24 goals.

The Best Young Player Award went to Kawasaki Frontale defender Kota Takai, a member of Japan’s team at the Paris Olympics.