Silent Brilliance

The beauty of the dynasty built by Kawasaki Frontale was in their brand of football, in the results, but also in the kind of players they’ve been able to grow. Yes, most of them came through the academy, but even the redemption arc of Akihiro Ienaga or the dream leap by Daiya Tono represented a feel good-story to cheer for. And now Kawasaki have probably to look to the ones who’ll take the place of these senators.

There was one of those youngsters who had problems in coming back to the base. To think that he was actually in the same roster with Kaoru Mitoma – but didn’t appear that much for the 2020 wonderful run Frontale had. So he had to leave for several loans, in the hope of once coming back – a bit like Yuki Kakita and Hayao Kawabe did respectively for Kashima Antlers and Júbilo Iwata.

Loan after loan, the kid was improving, but not enough to come back. Right when the dynasty was about to struggle, he finally came back. Last year, head coach Toru Oniki decided the kid was good enough to stay and serve a rotation purpose – which he full-filled with decent performances. But despite those, he never got the feeling he was going to be a key-player of the project. So he decided to leave.

We would lie if we said we weren’t surprised when Taisei Miyashiro announced he was going to leave Kawasaki for good. Could he, after a lifetime with Frontale and three and a half seasons with the team? Yes, because Vissel Kobe did give him a better chance to shine on the biggest stage. And almost at a half-point of the 2024 season, Miyashiro is proving the bet on him was a bargain.

Redemption Loans

Born in Minato-ku in May 2000, Miyashiro has been spotted early by Kawasaki Frontale. Nevertheless, Oniki didn’t give a proper start in the first 18 months he was already contracted with the club. We had to wait September 2020, and a winning goal in a 3-2 home win against Vissel Kobe, right after he scored his first goal with Frontale in the J.League Cup, always against the same opponent.

But it wasn’t indeed the first official goal Miyashiro bagged in. After seeing potential, Kawasaki loaned him to Renofa Yamaguchi in the Summer of 2019, just to give him more pitch-time in the second division. Miyashiro featured in 16 games, scoring twice and providing three assists. The potential was there, and many were curious to understand if Frontale would have retained him.

Instead, the club decided to loan him again, this time in the top-flight. Newly-promoted Tokushima Vortis needed to strengthen their offensive department for a return to J1 and they got Miyashiro. It was a decent deal for both parties: Vortis tried their best to stay up and Miyashiro was a ductile player, capable of featuring in different positions in the 4-2-3-1 of Dani Poyatos. Seven goals in 32 games were not enough to keep Vortis in J1.

So off you go with another loan, despite Frontale could have used him to expand the rotation. This time, Sagan Tosu. And Miyashiro worked wonders for the Kyushu-bound side: 8 goals in J1, plus two in the J.League Cup to round up the first year with double digits of goals as a pro. In the surprising side of Tosu, Miyashiro took the chance to gather more experience and finally come back to his home.

Nemo Prophet in Patria

Finally, the return. And it was an anticipated one: the belief in Miyashiro was so high at Frontale that the club gave him a pro-contract when Miyashiro was still attending his third year of high school, in 2018. He joined the club when he was 11, and had gone through all the youth ranks before reaching the first team. But he was never able to measure himself with the first team properly, coming back right when the dynasty was tumbling.

Options upfront were deteriorating. Leandro Damiao wasn’t anymore the beast J.League learned to know in the previous years. Akihiro Ienaga and Yu Kobayashi were not getting any younger, while Marcinho lost a bit of touch. Daiya Tono became so an all-rounder that he wasn’t that efficient in front of goal. Yusuke Segawa was a wild card. And yes, Shin Yamada has been a promising discover, but he wasn’t going to move mountains.

Miyashiro found a bit of space in all competitions, thanks also to the injuries which followed both Damiao and new arrival Bafétimbi Gomis. Among forwards, only Ienaga played more minutes than Miyashiro (3022 against 2337). But with 11 goals, Miyashiro was the best scorer of the team alongside Yasuto Wakizaka by some margin – Segawa put together seven goals, Tono and Yamada six.

With this kind of performances and the need of finding a new no. 9 (Damiao left last Winter), we would have expected Miyashiro to stay and become a symbol for Frontale. He had all the requirements to do so, but instead he left. Did he maybe feel the trust wasn’t there? Frontale bought immediately Erison from Botafogo (three millions), and the same day Miyashiro left. This time, for good.

True Poacher in Kobe

After having won the J1 League for the first time ever, what did exactly Vissel Kobe after such a winning campaign? Did they need something to improve? Yes, indeed – they needed to expand the squad. Last year was pretty strange – we don’t know how many had “Haruya Ide scores to win J1” in their J.League-bingo cards 18 months ago. Instead of facing fate, Kobe (rightfully) did their job on the market.

And it was important to do so especially up front, since Yuya Osako and Yoshinori Muto were lucky enough to never get injured. One of the reasons why Vissel won the title is that the magical duo was able to play always. In fact, neither Osako nor Muto missed a single game of the 2023 J1 League season (2828 minutes for the former, 2912 for the latter – fourth and second among Vissel players for minutes in J1).

But given their injury story and their age (Osako is 34, Muto is 31), it’s tough to see that happening again in 2024. In fact, the two forwards are still high-ranked for minutes in J1 this season, but Miyashiro is just behind them. Furthermore, Miyashiro started the season in a blistering form – scoring seven goals, including some winners (Osako and Muto scored four each, so just one more than Miyashiro. Combined).

Miyashiro has become ruthless, he’s just 24 and the future is in front of him. He could become an excellent J.Leaguer and the double digits in the league is possible this season, while also keep being a rotation player (Kobe will surely try their best for the AFC Champions League). Sky is the limit for his silent brilliance, which goes unnoticed, but it’s there. Always.