Player Watch · Aug 29, 2026
Ten and counting: a record number of Japanese players are now in the Premier League
Ten. That's how many Japanese players opened this Premier League season, an all time high, and it says everything about the summer we just lived through. Zion Suzuki's move to Aston Villa was the loudest arrival, but he didn't walk into England alone. Takehiro Tomiyasu is back too, joining countryman Daichi Kamada at Crystal Palace. Hidemasa Morita signed with Hull City. Daizen Maeda swapped Celtic for Ipswich. They're joining the crew already holding it down: Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton, Wataru Endo at Liverpool, Ao Tanaka at Leeds, Kota Takai at Tottenham, and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto at Coventry. Eight more Japanese players are grinding it out one level down in the Championship. "There aren't many examples of clubs signing Japanese players and having issues with their adaptation, with their personality, with their integration," CAA Base agent Joel Pannick told AFP. "The risk element that teams previously feared has gone." Veteran journalist Yoshiyuki Osumi went even sharper on Suzuki specifically, calling him "10 or 20 years ahead of his time for a Japanese goalkeeper." Rewind to 2001: Junichi Inamoto signed for Arsenal and never played a single league minute. Since then Kagawa, Okazaki, Minamino and Endo have all lifted titles in England. Now ten of ours are out there suiting up every single weekend, and this crop is just getting started.