Japanese football has been very capable of producing talent, especially in one position: midfielders. Defensive, offensive, central, box-to-box, mezzala – you name it. And there’s one club which has upped its game in recent years: FC Tokyo. That’s the place which produced the coming of Takefusa Kubo, who left Tokyo in the Summer of 2019 towards Europe. The same place which produced a player who, I think, will leave a great impact on the national team: Kuryu Matsuki, who left in the summer of 2024.
The list could go on with other products – Shoya Nakajima, Yoshinori Muto, Shuto Abe – but there’s something new coming. Actually, the next big thing in the capital has already taken over the squad, and all that it took was a few weeks of a transitional tournament. If there’s one perk from the “100-Year Vision League” currently going on, it’s that the no. 23 of FC Tokyo has made it abundantly clear that he’s not a fluke.
And yet, it wasn’t written in the stars. FC Tokyo struggled a lot since the new cycle started under head coach Rikizo Matsuhashi, and last year’s results were a rollercoaster. Furthermore, the club didn’t properly reinforce the squad, but that could be because they believed in the material they already had. And this seems to have paid off in the “100-Year Vision League”, where FC Tokyo are second in their group, having shown some serious progress.
And that progress has been manifest while seeing Ryūnosuke Satō moving his first steps as a star in Tokyo. Back from the loan at Fagiano Okayama, and with one season of top-flight football already under his belt, the no. 23 is clearly showing his value. And with the history of Matsuhashi developing offensive players – look at what he did at Albirex Niigata -, the sky is the limit for the young starlet. And that sky could bring him to an unexpected spot in Japan’s squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Sparkles of talent
Born on October 16th, 2006 (just the day after a terrible defeat for FCT in Hiroshima), Satō is originally from Nishitokyo, a ward of the capital city. He joined FC Tokyo’s youth ranks already from elementary school, which made him a special subject to observe by the club. Funny how hierarchies at the club already pushed him at the time: while in the U-13 ranks, back then, academy director Takashi Okuhara said that Satō was a bit weak physically, and didn’t have the right determination to reach the top.
A normal point, if you take into account that Satō was just 146 centimetres and weighed 39 kilos. That’s a lot of road to cover. As a counterargument, Sato promised to feature at the 2023 U-17 FIFA World Cup a few years later. And he did indeed, after winning the AFC U-17 Asian Cup. In August 2023, FC Tokyo offered him a pro-contract, turning Satō into only the third high schooler to sign a professional contract with the club in history, after Takefusa Kubo and Rei Hirakawa.
Satō immediately idolised Yuto Nagamoto, who was just back to FC Tokyo, and flew high: “Even if Yuto plays in a different position, he’s been played in the FIFA World Cup four times. I want to be a player who can surpass it”. That wasn’t just a dream, but a declaration of war. FC Tokyo didn’t shy away from the challenge, putting Satō into the starting line-up at 16 years, 4 months and 20 days, breaking the club’s record, set by Kubo himself a few years earlier.
It happened in a J.League Cup match, but still… back-then head coach Albert Puig knew a thing or two about youngsters. And he said after the match, with a small grin to be happy about: “There will be news tomorrow, so look forward to it. I won’t comment anymore”. But it was clear that Satō needed more space somewhere else – he was given a few minutes, but leaving Tokyo for a year could only do him so much good.
Greatness in Okayama
The loan to Fagiano Okayama was supposed to bring minutes to Satō, especially for a club which was playing in the top-flight for the first time. Instead, the youngster became probably the flashiest player from Okayama in the whole season. Furthermore, I had a few doubts about the match between head coach Takashi Kiyama and Satō, since the Fagiano Okayama manager was mostly known for his defensive tactics (seen also at Ehime FC and Montedio Yamagata).
Instead, numbers and performances said otherwise. Satō missed the first four games due to his presence at the 2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup, but then gradually gained minutes. In his first game as a starter, he scored against Cerezo Osaka; he scored the winner away at Sanfrecce Hiroshima. He scored in games against future champions Kashima Antlers and Machida Zelvia. In the end, he was a good support for Fagiano Okayama, who were already out of the relegation fight by September.
Two things honestly struck me in 2025 from Satō: a) the ductility. It wasn’t easy to adapt sometimes to be an offensive midfielder, sometimes a winger, even a wing-back, but Satō didn’t bat an eye and just followed every possible instruction; b) the personality. You can emerge from a relegation dogfighter, but Satō’s performances turned Fagiano into a steady mid-table team, before the club took a slow pace towards the end of the season (once relegation was out of sight).
Furthermore, you have to consider Satō’s story with Japan. He featured for all the teams with the national youth ranks, winning both the AFC U-17 and U-23 Asian Cup titles. Then, Japan’s head coach Hajime Moriyasu called him for the 2025 EAFF E-1 Championship, but his debut came already in a dead rubber WCQ against Indonesia. From July of last year, Satō played just eight minutes in a friendly against Ghana last November, but I wouldn’t rule him out for a call-up.
Tokyo is just a stop
Once he was back from Okayama, Satō didn’t wait around. Head coach Rikizo Matsuhashi gave him trust straight away, and just like the debuts of Kubo and Matsuki, FC Tokyo were really eager to see him back on the pitch in their jersey. Until now, even if it’s just a transitional tournament before the real season, Satō played 13 games, scoring five goals, including a recent brace at Kashiwa Reysol. He seems to have embraced the role of prophet that FC Tokyo fans want to give him.
What impressed even more is what Satō did, and he’s doing outside the pitch. He taught himself English to improve for a possible European adventure (he was talking about this already in 2023); furthermore, he’s in general an avid reader, capable of expanding his interests through athletes’ autobiographies. He also underlined that Nagatomo’s example wasn’t just about career goals, but rather about a healthy diet and the challenge of maintaining himself in shape.
Despite Japan being stacked in that position, there are decent chances for Satō to make it already to the FIFA World Cup in 2026. Hajime Moriyasu – who has been spotted multiple times following games to monitor Sato’s progress – hasn’t been shy about the kid: “He’s amazing. I remember the game against Indonesia, and usually in a warm-up, the senators go out first on the pitch. Instead, I saw Satō taking the lead… and I was quite surprised”. But Satō himself confirmed he had this habit already in Okayama.
I also think this article will come back in July. Whether there’s going to be a ticket to the upcoming FIFA World Cup or not, I don’t see European clubs leaving the chance of buying Satō on the table before the end of the next Summer transfer market window. I could clearly see a German club giving it a shot, in the hope of finding a new gem. Who knows if – just like Shunsuke Nakamura in 2002 or Shinji Kagawa in 2010 – a club will have a bargain from a Japanese player who hasn’t played the most recent FIFA World Cup…
