Lost Treasures – Manabu Saito

One-hit wonders. A light in a strange career, which wasn’t made of sparks and constant success. A sudden corner of attention in an otherwise normal trajectory. There are seasons or years like these ones, with players capable of rising to the occasion when it’s needed the most. Just think of sudden protagonists, who made the front cover for a certain period, without repeating themselves after that season.

“Lost Treasures” is a column that featured six episodes until now, all talking about these kinds of players in the history of J. League. To pick whom to feature in this column, we looked at all the Best XIs composed by the J. League committee at the end of every season and chose some players who made an enormous leap, just to rarely or not repeat themselves in the successive seasons.

Another specific detail: we picked just J. Leaguers, who enjoyed most of their career in the Japanese championship, albeit there have been two exceptions. It’s been some time since the last piece in this column. We enjoyed a trip on Memory Lane with Yoichiro Kakitani, who mesmerised Japan with a Cerezo Osaka jersey, but failed in Europe and then vanished in the last years (Tokushima Vortis just left him go).

And today we’re gonna move to another excellent dribbler, a genie in a bottle-type of talent. He featured in a World Cup, he seemed ready to take over Japan and be the successor of Honda, Okazaki and Kagawa alongside Takashi Usami and Hiroshi Kiyotake. Instead, just a decade later, he was barely playing in the pro. Probably Manabu Saito didn’t expect his career to turn around like this.

The Beginnings

Born in 1990 in Saiwai-ku, a ward of Kawasaki, in the Kanagawa Prefecture), Saito was associated with Yokohama F. Marinos already in the elementary school. And to think that, in 2006, he won the AFC U-17 Championship alongside MVP Yoichiro Kakitani and future J.League Kota Mizunuma. Around 2008, he had his first shots – both Marinos legend Kokichi Kimura first, and then Kazushi Kimura gave him though limited time on the pitch.

After three seasons, 32 games and just one goal (against Vissel Kobe in the J.League Cup), Saito took the chance of a loan. And that’s where Ehime FC came into play as an opportunity – in the end, the J2 League back then didn’t feature any relegation, so clubs could experiment as much as they wanted to. As Saito remembered a few years after: “The loan to Ehime? It was a bet to leave Marinos”.

But the bet was strongly motivated: “I needed to play – but if I failed in Ehime, there was no going back. I had other offers, but Ehime told me they saw me already in my youth ranks years”. That year, Saito scored 14 goals in 36 games, and a nickname was floating, due to Yasumaru Sorimachi’s comments after a 1-1 home draw against Ehime FC, when Saito scored a late equaliser: “Today we were stopped by Ehime’s Messi”.

His dribbles, his shots, his funambolic slaloms from the left flank triggered a return to Marinos. But mostly Saito started being involved with the national team and took part into the 2012 Olympic Games in London – where Japan took the fourth place after a significant tournament. Saito featured in most of the matches, and never hid the fact that Ehime was picked by him because of the chance of playing that tournament.

The Breakthrough

The return to Marinos of course set certain expectations – especially because Yokohama were finally becoming competitive again with Yasuhiro Higuchi at their helm. After coming fourth in 2012, 2013 should have been the year to win again the J1 title – Marinos were comfortably ahead with two games to go, and Saito was instrumental in some matches (e.g. in the 1-0 home win against defending champions Sanfrecce, he scored the winner).

But Marinos threw it all away by losing the last two matches, and they could find a small consolation in lifting the 2013 Emperor’s Cup. Meanwhile, Saito’s career was taking off – head coach Alberto Zaccheroni called him up for the 2013 EAFF E-1 Asian Cup and Saito not only won the trophy, but scored also a beautiful goal against Australia. Everything seemed ready for him to take the leap to Europe.

In fact, Wolfsburg came through, and wanted Saito to join the German club. The winger, though, played through an injury the final part of 2013 – all to win the J1 and the Emperor’s Cup with Marinos. He dreamed of a European gig, but going there not 100% fit could have been dangerous: “I was just thinking of going abroad, but I felt that, with the injury going on, the time wasn’t right. From there, it was easy to take a decision”.

The “Japanese Messi” nickname sticked, especially after Shunsuke Nakamura used it – in the end, he played against Messi when he was at Espanyol and Celtic. And so came the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where Zaccheroni called Saito as a last option on the wings, and in fact he never set foot on a pitch in Brazil. Nonetheless, it was a statement year – little did Saito know that 2014 was going to be the pinnacle of his career.

The Missed Leap

Chances surely were not over at 24, but somehow Saito struggled. That Emperor’s Cup won in 2013 with Marinos will stay the only trophy with the club he always played for. And the successive years at Marinos were not easy – first because the head coach changed, with Erick Mombaerts coming in for 2015 and staying for three years. Years in which Saito kept certain numbers, even reaching the “Best XI” in 2016 – the only time he ever appeared.

Those 10 goals and an excellent season didn’t trigger any trophy, but they did provide another chance at Europe. Some clubs reached out – but an agreement was never found, and so Saito remained at Marinos. With two other news: a) he became the captain of his childhood; b) he took over the no. 10, since a bitter Shunsuke Nakamura left Marinos because of the City Football Group’s style of management and joined Júbilo Iwata.

Europe seemed still possible, but it quickly became unreal. Responsibilities collapsed on Saito, who scored just once in the J1  – and one week later, he ruptured his ACL in the game against Ventforet Kofu. An injury that put him out for eight months. All the signs were pointing towards a change of environment – especially with another managerial change looming (Ange Postecouglou would have joined for 2018 as head coach).

The problem, though, wasn’t so much about leaving, but to where. In fact, Saito decided to join Kawasaki Frontale, the rivals of Marinos. It wasn’t digested very well by the fans, who saw Saito leaving on a free transfer – in a sort of Kevin Durant-esque move. On the other hand, the winger framed the change as a massive challenge: “I’ve chosen the toughest path for myself”. 

The Stagnation

The question that hangs up in the air was – did Kawasaki really need Manabu Saito? Back then, and now even more, the answer is “no”. Saito said that he refused offers from Europe to stay with Marinos, and he hoped to have a shot of Europe, but in their absence, joining Frontale made sense. Fans called him a “traitor”, but the player was hearing none of it, sure that the move would have paid off.

In the end, Frontale didn’t need him and he got injured again – Kawasaki was more than happy to win with the players already available. Saito stayed for three years with Frontale, but when he recovered from his injury, Kawasaki were already running without him. In the end, Saito racked up 72 games in all competitions, with 7 goals and 9 assists – coming off from the bench in 39 of those games. Not exactly a star.

Yes, the winger won two J1 titles, a J.League Cup, and a Japanese Super Cup. But he was just a piece of the puzzle, and not even an important one. Meanwhile, Marinos won a J1 title, and became the only team capable of facing Frontale. In his final year with Frontale (2020), the explosion of Kaoru Mitoma and Reo Hatate left him playing on the midfield – it was game over.

At 30 and with two major injuries behind him, Saito joined Nagoya Grampus. If he found some pitch time under Massimo Ficcadenti, he was left out by Kenta Hasegawa and that was it. The next moves are going to be just fillers.

The Final Chapter

Saito went first to South Korea, joining Suwon Samsung Bluewings. Initially it was a move for 18 months, but it lasted just six. Saito suffered enormously: “It was my first overseas transfer – I couldn’t sleep until 6:30 am and I struggled to adapt”. Then, Saito moved to Australia and the A-League, joining the Newcastle Jets: he scored just once, and even there, the deal lasted just six months. Saito clearly needed to go back home.

Then, a helping hand came from Vegalta Sendai, who offered Saito a six months-contract in 2023. No goals, mostly coming off from the bench, and then leaving. But at least, the last season with Azul Claro Numazu gave us back a resemblance of a player – Saito featured in 34 matches in the J3 League, scoring twice. So much that Azul Claro renewed his contract and we’ll see him again with Numazu this upcoming season.

What’s missed in Saito’s career? The ability of reading the room when it came down to moves. Should he have moved to Wolfsburg? Probably, the German club was in great period. Should he have left in 2016? Yes. At that point, leaving Marinos for Frontale in 2018 seemed like a late hunger to win trophies and nothing more. At 35, his career seems basically over.

That Messi comparison didn’t help either. Many were convinced he was going to dribble any hurdle thrown at him, but in the end he was probably his worst enemy, jeopardising a few passages in his career.