Sota Miura is a 24-year-old left-back who plays for Kawasaki Frontale in the J-League. Miura is a bit of a late-bloomer having come through Japan’s university system and then spending some time in J-2 before establishing himself at Kawasaki Frontale. He has one cap for the senior Japan national team.
Miura is listed at 5’8″ (1.78 m) and 163 lbs. His main draw is his ability in possession. Miura is a strong passer. He is able to consistently break the first line of pressure and progress the ball through passing. He can also play long passes and switch play with accuracy and consistency. Miura is a major threat in the final third thanks to his crossing ability. Miura can hit crosses from deeper areas that cause a lot of problems for defenders. He also sometimes makes overlapping runs into space which allows him to receive the ball further forward and pull off cutbacks. Miura takes corners and set pieces where his strong deliveries are also a major asset. Miura is also a very strong ball carrier, though he mostly does so in deeper areas. He is not necessarily a great 1v1 dribbler but he is quick on the ball and carries it with a lot of power despite not being notably big physically.
Miura also has some strong defensive ability. He is extremely strong in the air for a player his size, which makes him an excellent safeguard against crosses to the back post. His pace also allows him to get back into position quickly if his team loses the ball. Miura is generally quite aggressive, looking to make defensive interventions higher up the field. Considering his aggressive style, he has a reasonably high success rate. A weakness of Miura is that he struggles a little bit against players who receive the ball with their back to him. Despite his strength in the air, he can get knocked over a little bit too easily by players with a low centre of gravity or who are very physically strong.
Miura is 24, so he is probably about as good as he is going to get. But he provides a ton of value in possession so I could see him being a successful signing for a possession-dominant team outside the top-5 leagues. The fact that he is not super young also means that teams will not have to pay a premium for potential, and as such he could be a decent market opportunity.
Target Scouting 