Japanese media outlet Nikkan Sports, citing a report by the local London World, said on Tuesday that Mitoma, who was earning £10,000 (about $16.4 million) a week, became Brighton’s highest paid player when he extended his contract with the club until June 2027, boosting his weekly salary to £80,000 (about $131 million).
Nikkan Sports said Mitoma is set to become the highest-paid Japanese soccer player based on the £80,000-a-week report.
The outlet said, “Mitoma’s weekly wage, converted to annualized salary, is 780 million yen (about 7,041.9 million won).
This is the highest in Japan, surpassing the 597 million yen ($5.39 billion) earned by Daichi Kamada (Lazio).”
According to Nikkan Sports, Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal) and Yuya Osako (Kobe) each earned 400 million yen ($3.61 billion), while Takumi Minamino (Monaco) earned 300 million yen ($2.7 billion). 바카라사이트
Kamada became the highest-paid Japanese player when he joined Lazio from Frankfurt last summer, but Mitoma has quickly surpassed him.
However, Mitoma’s salary pales in comparison to Son Heung-min (Tottenham), who is considered the best player in Asia.
Son reportedly earns between £190,000 and £210,000 (approximately $312 million and $345 million) per week.
That translates to an annual salary of 16.4 billion won. That’s more than double Mitoma’s salary, and among the highest in the EPL.
Heung-min scored six goals in four EPL games in September to win his fourth career Player of the Month award.
Previous four-time winners include Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, and Frank Lampard.
Mitoma joined Brighton from Kawasaki in 2021 and spent the 2021-2022 season on loan in the Belgian league.
In his first full season in a Brighton uniform, he exploded for seven goals and five assists in 2022-2023, attracting interest from big clubs like Barcelona.
This season, he continued to raise his profile with three goals and three assists in eight games to secure a new contract.
Brighton manager Roberto De Jervi held up Mitoma’s jersey at the ‘official’ ceremony.
He emphasized that it was “four more years” and expressed his satisfaction with the new deal, to which Mitoma responded with a “thank you”.