is a Japanese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or a winger for Vissel Kobe. Muto started his career with

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

club

FC Tokyo Football Club Tokyo, commonly known as , is a Japanese professional football club based in Chōfu, Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The team is one of only four in the J.League to be si ...

in 2013 who he played with for three seasons. In May 2015, he signed for German club

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

where he amassed 72 appearances and scored 23 goals before moving to Premier League club Newcastle United in August 2018.

Club career

FC Tokyo

As a child, Muto joined FC Tokyo's youth system, where he kept developing until 2010. He then enrolled in the Faculty of Economics of

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

but kept playing football, for Keio's team. Despite an injury which sidelined him, in his first season with Keio he won the "Rookie of the Year" title. In 2012 and 2013, FC Tokyo included him in their roster as a "Special Designated Player", an option that allows J-League clubs to field university players without a professional contract. However, he got on the pitch just once, at the end of a match in July 2013. In 2014, he signed his first professional contract with FC Tokyo and was given the shirt number 14. Coach Massimo Ficcadenti decided to use him from the first league round and, at the end of the season, Muto reached 33 appearances and scored 13 goals, matching the top debut record in the Japanese first division. At the end of the season, he was part of the J-League's Best XI. Muto graduated from Keio University in March 2015, and the following month was subject to a bid by Chelsea. In April, he was elected as March's MVP (Player of the Month) in the J-League.

Mainz 05

On 30 May 2015, Muto joined Bundesliga club

on a four-year contract until 2019. On 31 October 2015, he scored a hat-trick for the first time in his career and also became the second Japanese player after Naohiro Takahara to score a hat-trick in the Bundesliga, in his team's 3–3 draw against FC Augsburg.

Newcastle United

Premier League club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

announced on 27 July 2018 that they had reached a deal to sign Muto, pending him being granted a UK work permit. He was granted the work permit on 2 August, officially becoming a Newcastle player on a four-year contract as part of a £9.5 million fee. Muto's first goal for Newcastle came in a 3–2 away loss to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

Eibar (loan)

On 16 September 2020, Muto was loaned out to Spanish club Eibar for the 2020–21 season.

Vissel Kobe

On 7 August 2021, Vissel Kobe announced that they signed Muto.

International career

Muto made his debut for

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on 5 September 2014 in a 2–0 friendly defeat to Uruguay at the Sapporo Dome, replacing Yusuke Minagawa after 58 minutes. Four days later at Yokohama's

Nissan Stadium Nissan Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Owned by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, it is primarily used for football and is the home field of the Tennessee Titans of the Natio ...

he scored his first international goal, coming on as a half-time substitute against Venezuela and scoring the first goal of a 2–2 draw six minutes later. As a substitute, Muto played all of Japan's matches at the

2015 AFC Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was ...

in Australia, ending with defeat to the United Arab Emirates in the quarter-finals. On 31 May 2018, he was named in Japan's final 23-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia. On 20 December 2018 he has been called up for the 2019 Asian Cup replacing the injured

Takuma Asano is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a winger or a forward for Bundesliga club VfL Bochum and the Japan national team. His younger brother Yuya is also a professional footballer currently playing for J1 League side Sanfrecce Hi ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Muto goal.''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muto, Yoshinori 1992 births Living people Keio University alumni People from Setagaya Japanese footballers Association football people from Tokyo Association football forwards Japan international footballers 2015 AFC Asian Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players J1 League players Bundesliga players Premier League players La Liga players FC Tokyo players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Newcastle United F.C. players SD Eibar footballers Japanese expatriate footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Japanese expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain