Insatiable

Urawa Reds have grown a big amount of talent, but rarely they used it: Takuya Okamoto and Naoki Yamada became Bellmare legends; Shinya Yajima lighted up Okayama and then went to Gamba; Ado Onaiwu scored a bunch of goals between Yamaguchi and Yokohama before flying to Europe. Even Takahiro Kunimoto – now at Casa Pia in the first Portuguese division – went to Avispa and then to Korea to prove his value.

Among those ones, there’s a kid who came from Osaka in 2016. He was in the youth ranks of Cerezo Osaka but didn’t make it for the U-18 (which would have probably granted him the chance of playing in J3). Instead of saying it was someone else’s fault for missing out on that achievement, he immediately analyzed himself: “Maybe I’m lacking something”, he said honestly once in an interview.

Last Winter, Ryotaro Ito was a journeyman. An interesting player for J2, but nothing more than this. His career seems lost like many we’ve seen drifting around the second tier, despite immense talent. Which factor would have avoided him to end up like Haruya Ide or Yamato Machida? The answer was at the Denka Big Swan Stadium, in front of an adoring crowd.

2022 saw him destroying opponents in J2. It wasn’t just about the numbers – although they do speak for themselves. It was about the flair and the feeling of domination he had throughout the whole season. Ito will turn 25 in February, and he finally found the way to be the center of gravity of one team: we’re curious to see if that will happen again in J1.

Drive and Disappointment

Back in the days of early 2010s, he decided to enroll in Sakuyo High School, located in the Okayama Prefecture, but back-then Urawa Reds head coach Mihailo Petrovic opted to try him out during some training sessions. Under his and Nobuhisa Yamada’s eyes, he shocked them with his skills: he didn’t look like a normal 16-years-old player. He had the chance of shadowing Yosuke Kashiwagi, who was still relevant at the time.

He then joined Urawa, but people around him warned him: “If you go there, you won’t find too much space”. Unfortunately, they were right. At first, it was a problem of age; then, even when he came back in 2019 and 2020, he never found the pitch time needed. Despite the managers changing, there was never a real shot at conquering Urawa as he did in that training session. In all those years in Saitama, he featured just 13 times in all competitions, playing 403 minutes.

Nevertheless, some senators at Urawa backed up his talent. Tsukasa Umesaki, who back then was one of the main players at Reds, said once: “Ryutaro has a strong confidence in his skills. In a good way, I would say he’s even bullish… surely, he’s not shy”. And even the no. 46 that Ito wore both in Mito and in Oita was a homage to another Reds senator, that Ryota Moriwaki, who endured success wearing that number since his time on loan at Ehime FC from Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

Life on Loan

To unlock his potential, a loan was unavoidable. And it worked with Mito HollyHock, who were fundamental to nurturing Ito’s potential. He stayed there for 18 months from mid-2017 until the end of the 2018 season. First a brief period in 2017, then a great 2018: he had solid numbers, although – looking at the top-scoring chart (that saw Genki Omae leading with 20 goals) – Ito said: “He scored 20, I scored just 9. I should be closer”.

The clear goal was to reach Japan’s national team. And the next step was supposed to be another leap in that direction. Oita Trinita should have been the right call, but somehow Ito didn’t fit within Tomohiro Katanosaka’s great project. He faltered in progressing, featuring just four times in J1. Trinita were having a great season and they hadn’t any space for experiments (from April to December, Ito played just nine minutes in J1).

When Ricardo Rodriguez decided his offensive department was already pretty stacked, Ito left again on loan, to come back to the place where everything was wonderful. Mito HollyHock welcomed him again, and the loan showed the potential was still there: Ito scored four goals in 20 matches, but generally gave away the feeling that he still could move the mountains. He just needed a place to do so.

To Niigata, for good

Talking about mountains to move or to climb, Niigata was the right place to shine. After six seasons with Urawa Red Diamonds, it was the right time to leave. Reds just won the Emperor’s Cup, they brought in Yusuke Matsuo… no space for Ito, who didn’t want to be a benchwarmer at 24. Better to restart in J2, where he knew he could have the difference, and for a team with a clear offensive structure: Albirex Niigata.

The beginning of the season didn’t really make everyone understand how Ito was dominating the game. Back then, Shion Homma was still in Niigata, Yoshiaki Takagi was still fit, too many choices up front… in fact, Ito played just once a full match from February to June. He came in from the bench in 10 games, showing how deep Niigata’s pockets were. But when Homma signed for Club Brugge and Takagi got injured, someone else had to make the difference.

After racking up three goals and five assist until June, from July the situation changed. Alongside Shunsuke Mito and Yota Komi, Ito became the no. 10 of the team, starting only two games from the bench and becoming the go-to-guy to win games. He scored other six goals and provided another six assists: he wanted to reach the 10+10 double, but he stopped at 9 goals and 11 assists.

The game against Vegalta Sendai – which basically sealed promotion – was a showcase of what this kid could do. Right-footed, left-footed, with a rocket from a distance or a smooth curler… didn’t make a difference. Ito brought physically Albirex back to J1 and now he’s gonna have a real shot at the main stage. Well deserved for him, who could still be an interesting player to witness in the years to come. Especially if he’ll stay unsatiable like he proved to be.