Takefusa Kubo (22), known as Lee Kang-in’s best friend, has already begun to attract interest from Saudi Arabian capital at an early age.
Spanish media Lelevo reported on the 17th (Korean time) that Saudi professional club Al Nasr is showing great interest in Kubo
the ace of the Japanese national soccer team and active player at Real Sociedad. 토토사이트
The media reported on the transfer market and said, “Al Nasr is showing interest in Kubo.
There have been no advanced negotiations to date, but Al Nasr is attempting to recruit Kubo through the work of several officials.”
He also announced the player’s intention to remain in Europe, saying, “In any case,
Kubo wants to remain in Europe. He will remain at Real Sociedad until this season.”
Kubo, who is from Japan, joined the Barcelona youth team in 2011 when he was 10 years old and trained until 2015.
He is well known as a close friend of Lee Kang-in, who grew up at the Valencia Academy around the same time.
However, Kubo chose to return to Japan after FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association)
pointed out Barcelona’s youth recruitment problem and imposed disciplinary action on the club.
At the time, FIFA judged that Barcelona had violated the ban on transferring players under the age of 18 to overseas clubs, and imposed disciplinary action on the youth,
banning them from training and participating in matches.
Accordingly, Kubo chose to join FC Tokyo in Japan instead of growing up in Barcelona, where he made his J-League debut.
Kubo, who continued to grow successfully in the J.League, was given the opportunity to transfer to Barcelona’s rival team,
Real. In 2019, Castilla, Real’s second team, recruited Kubo, and Kubo took on the challenge of appearing on the Spanish stage again.
It wasn’t easy to survive at Real Madrid. At the time,
Real had many world-class superstars such as Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard, and talented Brazilian prospects such as Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior had joined,
so there were few opportunities for Kubo to return.
As Kubo had difficulty breaking into the first team, he tried to get a chance to play through a loan.
He grew up on loan at Villarreal, Mallorca, Getafe, etc., and during his second season at Mallorca,
he even had a meal with Lee Kang-in, who has now moved to Paris Saint-Germain.
Last summer, he decided to part ways with Real by transferring permanently to Real Sociedad.
Kubo earned his wings at Sociedad. He played in 35 league games last season, scoring 9 goals and 4 assists, serving as the team’s key ace.
He was also recognized by fans by being named Socieda Player of the Year.
Kubo is leading the team’s attack in the 2023/24 season, recording 6 goals and 3 assists in Spanish La Liga and 1 assist in the UEFA Champions League.
The team is cruising, ranked 6th in the league and advanced to the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Kubo signed a contract with Sociedad with a buyout clause of 60 million euros (86 billion won).
This figure is the same as the current ransom price.
He was recognized as a future resource by signing a five-year contract until the summer of 2027.
Based on his performance, the transfer market specialist site Transfermarkt recorded 60 million euros in the newly renewed player value ahead of the January 2024 transfer market on the 23rd, ranking first among national players belonging to the AFC.
Kubo’s value recorded 50 million euros (71.7 billion won) in October,
but it rose 10 million euros (approximately 14.3 billion won), or 20%, from two months ago, ranking first among players from AFC countries.
Kubo, who is only 22 years old and is rising in price in Europe, has quickly attracted the attention of Saudi capital.
Al Nasr, run by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF), currently has a number of European players, including Ronaldo.
David Ospina (Colombia), Aymeric Laporte (Spain), Alex Telles (Brazil), Marcelo Brozovic (Croatia), Sekou Fofana (Ivory Coast), Otibau (Portugal), Sadio Mane (Senegal) There are a lot of leading stars.
Al Nasr continued to invest heavily even after signing Ronaldo, spending a whopping 165.1 million euros (about 242.1 billion won) last summer alone.
And the next target is expected to be active not only on the European stage but also at the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in Qatar.