Satoshi Tanaka- Shonan Bellmare Scouting report





Satoshi Tanaka: A Promising Utility Man


Date Of Birth: 13 August 2002
Country: Japan
Club: Shonan Bellmare
Position: Left Back, Cdm, Central Midfield
Height: 172 CM
Foot: Left



Clubs now want players that can do it all: Play out from the back, work within a system of possesion based football and all be a solid player. And just like that I find Satoshi Tanaka from Shonan Bellmare, currently playing in Japan's top league who can make the leap to many European teams instantly.

The J league has become a hotbed for European teams looking to pick up top talent on the cheap and the players certainly pass the eye test. Stat wise the J league talents also fit the bill for fast paced European football as Japanese players run the most out of any league in the world.

Satoshi Tanaka has been having a flyer for Shonan this season, despite the fact the club sit in the bottom three at the time of writing. Having started 10 out the 11 games so far, he has appeared in the team of the week twice already. The 21 year old (22 in August) has already had experience in European football, having been on loan with Kortrijk in Belgium for 6 months in 2022-23 season. 

What position does Satoshi Tanaka play?


Often playing in front of a back three, he can also play as a central midfielder or left back but in my opinion his strongest position is a central midfielder. A typical box to box role suit's his hard working style best. An 82% pass rate so far this season combined with 2.7 tackles and 2.3 interceptions per game along with 6.1 balls recovered per game showcase his ability to break up the play on the press and also start a counter in a possesion based system. He is very alert defensively, seeing the play ahead of others, often intercepting attempted passes before looking to send it forward to those making a run upfield on the counter. Suprisingly he is also fouled more times than he gives away fouls with a 0.5 difference. This is due to his small 172cm stature combined with his fantastic balance and agility. 

What is his ideal position?


His stats regarding goals and assist don't jump out instantly however this is due to him playing in a more defensive role. I believe if he was played in a more advanced role from his cdm then he will bump his assists numbers way up. A very technical player who rarely passes backwards, his passing is easily his best strength especially in the opposition half, making 79% of his passes.  In the final third he rarely makes a mistake often taking his time, waiting on his team mates to make runs into the box. He is also very good at using fakes to confuse the defenders often showing his defender one way with a head fake before sending the ball into the opposite direction. If his team mates were better finishers then his assist's would certainly be more eye catching.

What are his weaknesses?


His height might turn off some teams, despite this he does win 46% of his ariel duels. I believe he needs to work on his finishing as he only has 0.1 shots on target despite having 1 shot per game. His right foot seems to be very weak compared to his left, however all of these weaknesses can be worked on as they are technical. Satoshi is a hard working player who works well with his team mates. Moving him up the pitch should enhance his dribbling abilities combined with some upper body strength and his improvement will seem huge. 

A player with a bright future is worth keeping an eye on. A regular for Japan's U-23's, there is potential for him to be in the National team. Just like many Japanese players that have gone to Europe in recent years, the potential for both club and player is high.  Expect to see him make the move to Europe again in the near future. 

Ideal Club:

A move to a top 5 league is a little too soon for him, but a move to a fast paced league like Croatian, Serbian, Swedish, French Ligue 2 or Scottish could provide the perfect situation to progress his skills and get settled in European football before moving on to bigger things. A club like Hajduk Split or Rijeka in the Croatian League or Red Star Belgrade in Serbia could be perfect. Each club plays fast paced possesion football, are competing to win trophies and eachclub has a great record of developing players and moving them on to bigger things is ideal for everyone. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ronnie Edwards Scout Report

Image
  Date of birth: 28 March 2003 Country: England Position: Central Defender/ Central Defensive Midfield Height: 180cm Preferred foot: Right Club: Peterborough United When you look at a modern central defender there is usually one of two play styles he has adopted. Either the traditional centre back who puts his foot through the ball up the park and dives into tackles but cannot play from the back, or the more modern player who is comfortable with the ball at his feet often at the expense of some of the more standard defensive skill set. Ronnie Edwards however is a very rare breed of player as he is the definition of modern meets classic. Ronnie Edwards has been a first team regular at Peterborough since joining from Barnet's under 18 squad in 2020. He has quickly became a fans favourite, also winning 4 club awards at the end of the 2021/22 season and he has only gone from strength to strength since with a call up to Englands under 20 squad for the world cup in 2023 starting all 4 ga
Read more

Sebastian Nanasi Scout Report

Image
  Date of birth: 16 May 2002 Country: Sweden Position: Lw Height: 178cm Preferred foot: Right Club: Malmo FF The Swedish Allsvenkan is always a gold mine for scouts and clubs alike looking for young talent playing big minutes in a competitive standing and Sebastian Nanasi has been a standout for the past few seasons with his potential and ability alike on the up and up.  In the 2023 season, Nanasi notched up 2,495 minutes across 20 games notching up 11 goals and 7 assists. Already this season he has appeared in 12 games, starting all and adding 5 goals and 7 assists already, as well as finding himself in the team of the week 8 times.  5 goals is very impressive when you take a look at the stats, averaging 2.3 shots and 0.9 hitting the target. Majority of his shot's come from his fantastic agility, often beating his man and cutting inside and firing at the goal. A goal conversion of 19% is fantastic giving he is often on the wing. All of his goals this season have been from inside t
Read more

Kento Tachibanada- Scout Report

Image
  Date of birth:  29 May 1998 Country: Japan Position: Central Midfielder/ Defensive Midfield Height: 168cm Preferred foot: Right Club: Kawasaki Frontale Midfielders in the modern day compared to the previous era's look vastly different. There is a lot more work, a lot more pressing to go with the traditional skills. Although many midfielders have adapted to the change, many have not, however in the J league the box to box midfielder is the norm and I don't think there are many more that standout than Kawasaki Frontale's Kento Tachibanada. Captain Kento has been with Kawasaki since 2020 having followed in the path of many Japanese players by coming into professional football directly from university. Having being made captain in 2023 he has cemented himself as first choice on the team sheet for the successful J league club. In his first season with the club he made 32 appearances helping the club win it's first J league title and his performances on the pitch have only
Read more