The Wonderkids of La Masia #4

Takefusa Kubo — Japan

Info

Birthday: July 4, 2001 (13 y/o)

Position: Striker, false 9 and LW

Been at Barca since: 2011

Nationality: Japanese

Idol: Messi

Prefered foot: Left

Favorite number: 10

Known as: Take

Kubo

Another Asian wonderkid. Just like Lee, Take’s potential is out of this world. It is hard to tell, if a player that young will even be successful or not, but ever since Take joined the Cantera in 2011, as the first Japanese ever, from Kawasaki Frontdale in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, Japan, he has been beating all kinds of goalscoring records which has led him to being dubbed by the Catalan papers, as “the Japanese Messi”. I know, I know — it’s cliché and all that, but Takefusa Kubo has just been ridiculous so far throughout all the youth teams that he’s been playing with at La Masia, and if you see his videos and his goalscoring statistics, you’ll understand why he has already been dubbed as a new Messi. Kubo is the crown jewel of many great “cracks” from the 2001 generation, and last season, he was part of the team many consider the greatest Alevin A side in history, with Kubo and Ansu as the yin-yan of the team, and one of the best La Masia youth teams in history.

At his La Masia trial in Barcelona in 2011, after he had already shown his abilities in the Yokohoma FCB Escola, people that saw him there were blown away by his insane dribbling ability and ability to score goals when he wanted, compared to the other kids.

Even though Barca, at the time, were reluctant to sign under-13's they picked the youngster up. Barca kept a close eye on Kubo and saw him star in a youth tournament before returning home to school in Japan. His parents were joyful when they heard of Barca’s interest and they quickly travelled together to Spain, and now they live and work in Barcelona. After just a couple months he learned the basics of Castilian (regular Spanish) and after two years in the academy, he has learned to speak both fluent Castilian and Catalan.

A new Messi?

On his own Facebook page, he’s called Messi his idol, and I know I also said this about Lee, but it’s scary how Take reminds me of our beloved Argentinian. Sometimes, he even plays at LW, just like Leo did for most of the youth teams at La Masia, and also the position he played in his first games for Barca B and the first team. As I mentioned before, Take is a pint-sized, left-footed player, blessed with the ability to run with the ball as though it’s glued to his feet, just like Messi. He also seems to be able to regularly find the back of the net, like the four-time Balon d’Or winner likes to do as well. Take, like Messi, also likes to track back on the pitch to get the ball and set up his teammates or just to create a chance for himself.

Already in the start of the 2011-12 season, in his first season, Take scored 21 goals after just 5 (!) games and after 6 months in his first season he had scored over 60 goals. And he didn’t stop there. In the season afterwards, in 2012-13, he scored a total of 79 of goals which is a trashing of Bojan’s La Masia-record when he shined at his years at the Cantera.

High talent and praise indeed, but the pressure of being compared to the best player on the planet doesn’t seem to faze young Take, who scored one Messi-like goal and made an incisive pass to a teammate to set up another when his Barcelona youth team beat Villarreal in a match in 2012.

In his first tournament of his La Masia career, he was named the MVP in a tournament in Belgium, in front of an excited head of youth football, Guillermo Amor. Every year, he’s bagged in tons of goals at all his youth teams, and he’s currently the star at Infantil B, and they currently sit at first place in their league.

One for the future

Still, it is very early to say that Take will be as important as Messi is right now. There are many years of work ahead before Take will have a chance of playing on the senior Barcelona team (approximately around 2020), and many young players never make it due to injury or just not fulfilling their potential. But he is in the right place at the moment, and as we all know, the club has a track record of nurturing small, skillful players who others might regard as too small for the extremely physical world of professional football, with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta as the prime exhibit.

Take has also already picked up a marketing contract with an agency in Tokyo, which shows his rising fame in Japan. There is no doubt that the Barca-board are interested in his success, because it will lead to a massive boom on the Asian and especially the Japanese market, which is already one of the biggest in the world.

Lee and Kubo are definitely the two most talented Asian players at La Masia, and if they both fulfill their potentials, two of the best forwards in the world will come from South Korea and Japan one day in the future.

Videos

Goals first Barca-games and skills when he was in Japan

Take vs. Villareal

6 goals in a match last year

Last minute goal last season

Take vs. Madrid last season

Goal this season

Take vs. Tokyo u-12

Highlights this season

Highlights from Infantil A’s tournament in Asia with Kubo, Ansu and the best midfield talent of the ‘01 generation, just arrived from Espanyol, Adrià Bernabé, as the stars of the team.

Info

Birthday: July 4, 2001 (12 y/o)

Position: Striker, false 9 and LW

Been at Barca since: 2011

Nationality: Japanese

Idol: Messi

Prefered foot: Left, can use right easily

Favorite number: 10

Known as: Take

Kubo

Another Asian wonderkid. Just like Lee, Take’s potential is out of this world. It is hard to tell, if a player that young will even be successful or not, but ever since Take joined the Cantera in 2011, as the first Japanese ever, from Kawasaki Frontdale in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, Japan, he has been beating all kinds of goalscoring records which has led him to being dubbed by the Catalan papers, as “the Japanese Messi”. I know, I know — it’s cliché and all that, but Takefusa Kubo has just been ridiculous so far throughout all the youth teams that he’s been playing with at La Masia, and if you see his videos and his goalscoring statistics, you’ll understand why he has already been dubbed as a new Messi. Kubo is the crown jewel of many great “cracks” from the 2001 generation, and last season, he was part of the team many consider the greatest Alevin A side in history, with Kubo and Ansu as the yin-yan of the team, and one of the best La Masia youth teams in history.

At his La Masia trial in Barcelona in 2011, after he had already shown his abilities in the Yokohoma FCB Escola, people that saw him there were blown away by his insane dribbling ability and ability to score goals when he wanted, compared to the other kids.

Even though Barca, at the time, were reluctant to sign under-13's they picked the youngster up. Barca kept a close eye on Kubo and saw him star in a youth tournament before returning home to school in Japan. His parents were joyful when they heard of Barca’s interest and they quickly travelled together to Spain, and now they live and work in Barcelona. After just a couple months he learned the basics of Castilian (regular Spanish) and after two years in the academy, he has learned to speak both fluent Castilian and Catalan.

A new Messi?

On his own Facebook page, he’s called Messi his idol, and I know I also said this about Lee, but it’s scary how Take reminds me of our beloved Argentinian. Sometimes, he even plays at LW, just like Leo did for most of the youth teams at La Masia, and also the position he played in his first games for Barca B and the first team. As I mentioned before, Take is a pint-sized, left-footed player, blessed with the ability to run with the ball as though it’s glued to his feet, just like Messi. He also seems to be able to regularly find the back of the net, like the four-time Balon d’Or winner likes to do as well. Take, like Messi, also likes to track back on the pitch to get the ball and set up his teammates or just to create a chance for himself.

Already in the start of the 2011-12 season, in his first season, Take scored 21 goals after just 5 (!) games and after 6 months in his first season he had scored over 60 goals. And he didn’t stop there. In the season afterwards, in 2012-13, he scored a total of 79 of goals which is a trashing of Bojan’s La Masia-record when he shined at his years at the Cantera.

High talent and praise indeed, but the pressure of being compared to the best player on the planet doesn’t seem to faze young Take, who scored one Messi-like goal and made an incisive pass to a teammate to set up another when his Barcelona youth team beat Villarreal in a match in 2012.

In his first tournament of his La Masia career, he was named the MVP in a tournament in Belgium, in front of an excited head of youth football, Guillermo Amor. Every year, he’s bagged in tons of goals at all his youth teams, and he’s currently the star at Infantil B, with kids in his own age group.

One for the future

Still, it is very early to say that Take will be as important as Messi is right now. There are many years of work ahead before Take will have a chance of playing on the senior Barcelona team (approximately around 2020), and many young players never make it due to injury or just not fulfilling their potential. But he is in the right place at the moment, and as we all know, the club has a track record of nurturing small, skillful players who others might regard as too small for the extremely physical world of professional football, with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta as the prime exhibit.

Take has also already picked up a marketing contract with an agency in Tokyo, which already shows his rising fame in Japan. There is no doubt that the Barca-board are interested in his success, because it will lead to a massive boom on the Asian and especially the Japanese market, which is already one of the biggest in the world.

Lee and Kubo are definitely the two most talented Asian players at La Masia, and if they both fulfill their potentials, two of the best forwards in the world will come from South Korea and Japan one day in the future.

Videos

Goals first Barca-games and skills when he was in Japan

Take vs. Villareal

6 goals in a match last year

Last minute goal last season

Take vs. Madrid last season

Goal this season

Take vs. Tokyo u-12

Highlights this season

Highlights from Infantil A’s tournament in Asia with Kubo, Ansu and the best midfield talent of the ‘01 generation, just arrived from Espanyol, Adrià Bernabé, as the stars of the team.

Hope you’ve enjoyed it.