久保建英/Takefusa Kubo - An analysis of Takefusa Kubo’s stint with Mallorca and a look into why he is one of the most promising young talents in La Liga right now.

#PausaAnalysis [THREAD]

Kubo once played alongside the supremely talented Ansu Fati in Barcelona’s academy. As one of La Masia’s brightest prospects, Kubo was forced to leave for home, Japan, after Barca were found guilty of violating FIFA’s international transfer policy for players under 18.

As soon as he turned 18 and was eligible to now play in Europe, Real Madrid took advantage of Barcelona’s refusal to pay his entourage a € 2 million demand and signed him.

Kubo was initially supposed to slot in with Real Madrid Castilla in Segunda División B. However impressive performances in pre-season with Real Madrid showed that he was ready to play at a much higher level than Spain’s 3rd division and a loan to RCD Mallorca followed.

At Mallorca, Kubo found himself in the mix to make the starting XI a few games into Mallorca’s season and while he registered an assist against Getafe in his first ever start for the club, it took him time to get going.

A few matchdays later, against Villarreal, Kubo finally started to find form with a goal to cap off a solid if not impressive performance. This game was around the time that Kubo looked like he was finally settling in, with his manager and teammates trusting him more.

Kubo lined up as a right sided midfielder or a right winger in Vincent Moreno’s 4-4-1-1 formation with Moreno actively trying to use Mallorca’s wingers as attacking outlets. For the Japanese national team, Kubo has also featured as a left winger and can switch wings seamlessly.

For the most part Mallorca’s players weren’t disciplined enough positionally to form good attacking sets. Kubo, unlike his teammates was often able to find himself in good positions to receive passes before attacking.

Kubo is very direct in possession. He often looks to dribble right onto defenders & he’s also quite successful at it (60%). He dribbles with the ball really close to his feet just like Eden Hazard. His 1v1 ability makes him an excellent weapon.

He was often involved in link up situations and he’s able to make intelligent passes when he has to. He’s always scanning the pitch when he does not have the ball and when he has players closer to him in his field of view, he makes all the right decisions and he does it fast.

On the flip side, there’s this really good thread by @HemmenKees about how Kubo, despite being a RW, does not have the best G+A output. He makes a point about how Kubo’s actions post dribble don’t always result in a shot & that he gets fewer touches in advanced positions.

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He also points out that Kubo often turns the ball over A LOT. This is the thread if anyone is interested in having a look. It’s a fair analysis with critiques based on data viz and facts.

[2/4] https://twitter.com/HemmenKees/status/1285335178114740240?s=20

But while Kees acknowledges Mallorca were bad, in his thread he fails to Mallorca’s lack of structure in attack. It’s an important point to make because it often means Kubo is left with no options to pass to, which results in the high rate of turnovers we see.

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There’s also a point about Kubo having “tunnel vision” which probably isn’t the case. Kubo, when he does have the right options, picks out passes correctly. However, there isn’t much film on him in a different system that could definitely prove either’s case entirely true.

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Where Kubo does suffer is his ability to hold onto the ball. He’s not too strong and at times he’s bullied off the ball rather easily which also accounts for the increased turnovers. He hasn’t shown any strengths defensively too so it makes him somewhat of a liability there.

Being 5′ 8″, Kubo is also awful in aerial duels losing 70%+ of them and nearly always losing out to players that are even slightly taller than him.

But Kubo is also just 19 years of age. He still has time to put on muscle and to improve his IQ on and off the ball.

What is encouraging is that Kubo has gradually increased his level of performances from the start of the season up to now. There’s no clear dip in form and at a club with a tactical setup like Mallorca it is tough to hide and he doesn’t fade away in games.

This increase in level also resulted in some of his best performances post lockdown including impressing versus the big three in La Liga (Real Madrid, Barcelona & Atletico Madrid). Against Atleti, he made 5 key passes(!).

Kubo is linked with a move to Lopetegui’s Sevilla. Sevilla is one of the league’s most organised teams and it is a system that could suit him but he has heavy competition with Suso, Ocampos & Munir vying for 2 spots. He has a chance to play UCL football alongside quality players.

Is Take Kubo ready to start for Real Madrid at the moment? Probably not. He is still raw and there are many aspects of his game, particularly defensive involvement, which he has to improve on. But he is young and the early signs show that he could be involved in the near future.