At the age of just 21, Takefusa Kubo has already compiled quite the footballing journey - despite not being a household name among football fans.
Not many professionals can say they have played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, but Kubo can. The Japan international was tipped to become one of the best footballers in the world when he was at the famous La Masia academy, with Kubo scoring 74 goals in 30 games for Barca's Under 12s in the 2012/13 season.
That impeccable goal record drew comparisons to Barcelona legend Lionel Messi, with many comparing Kubo's high-octane dribbling skills, inch-perfect shooting ability and his wicked left foot to the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner. However, the Spanish giants were later found to have violated FIFA's international transfer policy for Under 18 youths, making Kubo ineligible to play for the club.
This saw Kubo move back to his native Japan, where he starred for FC Tokyo, becoming the youngest player to score in the J League at 15 years and 10 months back in 2017. After impressing, Real Madrid managed to capture the signature of the highly-rated winger on a five-year deal in 2019, with Kubo expected to play in the B side.
However, he featured regularly with the first team during Real Madrid's pre-season tour of the United States and Germany, with Zinedine Zidane giving Kubo a taste of what it was like to play for Los Blancos. Real decided to send Kubo on a season-long loan to Real Mallorca, though, where he featured regularly for the La Liga strugglers.
Kubo, in 2020, outlined his ambitions to become one of the best despite failing to secure regular first-team minutes at Real. He told France Football : "My dream has always been to become one of the best players and I won’t stop working to achieve that. I’ve always said that my goal was to play for Real Madrid and I work for that, doing the best job I can even if I don’t know what will happen. I love being able to play football in one of the best leagues in the entire world."
Kubo also spent some time out on loan at Villareal and Getafe, before returning to Mallorca for the remainder of last season. He enjoyed his second spell at the The Pirates, though he scored just two times in 31 matches.
After three years and zero senior appearances, Kubo left Real Madrid to join Real Sociedad on a permanent deal. He marked his debut by scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win at Cadiz in their opening game of the season. He has since impressed in a Sociedad shirt, netting one further goal and grabbing four assists in 15 matches.
Although he is an injury doubt, Kubo could be set to face Manchester United on Thursday night as Sociedad aim to top their Europa League group. The 5"8 wide man impressed at Old Trafford back in September as Sociedad ran out 1-0 winners thanks to Brais Mendez's 59th-minute effort.
Sociedad need just a point to top Group E, although a 1-0 defeat would still see them stay at the summit. However, if United win by two or more goals, Sociedad will be forced to play a two-legged tie against a third-placed Champions League club in the Last-32 in February.
