Kein Sato is a 23-year-old attacking midfielder who plays for F.C. Tokyo in the J-League. Sato was previously on the books of Werder Bremen but never made a first-team appearance and did not have a particularly noteworthy goal record for their reserve side. However, he has put up some impressive numbers for an F.C. Tokyo side that has struggled to score goals this season. Sato has played a number of times for Japan’s U-23 team.
Sato is listed as 5’8″ (1.79 m) and 167 lbs. (76 kg). He generally plays as the right-sided attacking midfielder in a 3-4-2-1. Sato is a very direct player. He is a strong ball carrier in open space thanks to his above-average pace and acceleration. However, he is not that great of a 1v1 dribbler as he often lacks the physical power to get past a player cleanly. Sato’s first touch is also frustratingly inconsistent. Too frequently he misses an opportunity to create a shot for himself or others because it takes him too long to get the ball under control. Considering Sato gets most of his chances in transition, his first touch is a major weakness. However, Sato is able to cause some damage with time and space. He has strong vision and can create some very high danger chances from the right half-space through his passing. However, the fact that he is always going for the killer ball does mean that he is not very ball secure. He attempts quite a lot of crosses, but his difficulties creating separation through dribbling means that a lot of these crosses are blocked or delivered from the touchline. Sato is a goal threat in transition situations thanks to his speed and good positioning. However, I think he could become a much bigger threat if he made more runs into the box in other situations. At the moment, the vast majority of his shots are coming in transition.
Sato is quite effective on the defensive side of things. He tracks back frequently and is quite a strong tackler for an attacking player. He often catches opposition midfielders in possession and wins the ball back for his team.
If we look purely at the stats, Sato looks like a player primed for a breakout. At the time of writing, F.C. Tokyo has only scored 17 goals in 18 games and sits 18th out of 20 teams. Sato is putting up 0.4 goal contributions per 90 and 0.53 NPxG+xA/90. That certainly looks, on paper, like a player who would be unstoppable on a stronger team. Certainly, in my viewing, Sato showed some very useful attacking skills. But, I also saw some reasons to suggest things might be a little bit more complicated. His first touch, lack of physical strength, and limited penalty box presence all give me serious pause about his ability to take a step to a higher level. But still, he has a lot of positive traits as well. So, for the right price, I think he could be a good gamble for teams a level down from the top-5 leagues.
Target Scouting 