£90m and the rest: Mitoma is one of the best wingers in the world

Since rejecting a move to Saudi Arabia in the January transfer window, Kaoru Mitoma has enjoyed rather a good time of it.

Five goals and one assist from seven matches have helped Brighton reignite their bid for European football and move into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

It is form good enough for former England international Shaun Wright-Phillips to hail Mitoma as one of the best wingers in the world right now. Making it easy to see why Al Nassr were willing to pay up to £90 million to sign him.

Had that sort of offer come in, the Albion would have faced a tough decision. Mitoma though made it easy for Brighton. Money is not the be-all and end-all for Mitoma.

More important than an inordinate amount of Saudi sportswashing oil cash to Mitoma is what he achieves on the pitch. Playing at the highest level possible and ultimately achieving the ambition he had when writing his now-famous thesis on dribbling of making it to the Champions League.

Which means no Saudi switch anytime soon. But if Mitoma maintains this level of performance between now and the end of the season, he will surely be of summer interest to clubs who can offer Champions League football.

Speaking to Heart Bingo, Wright-Phillips said: “I’m impressed with Kaoru Mitoma every time I watch him. I’d consider him to be one of the best wingers in the world now.”

“I’m surprised no European clubs tried to sign him in the summer because he could easily fit into any of the top teams in the Premier League.”

“He’s a quality dribbler, a good passer and he creates chances – he also knows where the goal is. I’d put him right up there.”

“I can understand why they turned down a massive fee from Saudi Arabia for him and it shows they now see that if they want to continue to climb up the Premier League, they can’t keep selling their best players.”

“They’ve done that for the past few years, but now they must start building around those key players rather than selling them.”

Easier said than done. If a Champions League club do come in for Mitoma with a mega money offer, can Brighton really turn it down and deny Mitoma his long-stated dream?

Especially as he has shown remarkable loyalty to the Albion already in rejecting Saudi money; not to mention being one of the most entertaining and likeable players in Brighton history.

Replacing Mitoma would be nigh-on impossible because of the unique talent he is. When Mitoma is on form, Brighton win matches. You only have to look at the current run to see that.

Or what happened when he was ruled out for the final three months of last season, coinciding with the Albion falling apart.

Much of that has been put down to Roberto De Zerbi downing tools. Losing Mitoma though was massive, by far the biggest blow in a never-ending injury crisis full of blows.

If Mitoma does depart, Brighton do at least have plenty of strength in depth out wide. Something else which has impressed Wright-Phillips about the Albion this season.

“Brighton have an abundance of talent on the wing with Mitoma, Yankuba Minteh, Simon Adingra and Brajan Gruda,” Wright-Phillips said.

“For me, being a winger myself, it’s very exciting to watch them and see them taking players on and trying to make things happen.”

“I think Minteh is slightly different, and he played in an attacking wing-back role when they won 3-0 against Chelsea.”

“He got two goals, but I was also impressed with him defensively because he helped them to shut up shop in that game. He nullified their threats down the wing on his side.”

Minteh went onto add an assist in the 4-0 win at Southampton via an outrageous outside of the boot square pass into the box finished off by Georginio Rutter.

We won’t mention him falling over his own leg when one-on-one with Aaron Ramsdale. Or missing what was effectively an open goal from 10 yards out.

What we will mention is how Minteh has been steadily improving all season. Wingers tend to be wildly inconsistent even in their prime (unless they are Mitoma).

For Minteh to have delivered so many good moments aged only 20-years-old in his first season of Premier League football underlines the frightening amount of potential he has.