What role does Kubo play? R Sociedad's new season begins: Valencia's 4-3-3 right wing is likely to be a strong match – Soccer Travel from Spain – Overseas Soccer Column: Daily Sports

For Japanese national team midfielder Kubo Takefusa (24), who is in his seventh season in Spain, his fourth season at Real Sociedad will soon begin.

R Sociedad Kubo Takefusa (Photo taken in July 2025)

■Aiming to return to the European Cup

Following the results of last season, when they finished 11th in the league, the club has completely revamped their Imanor Alguacil structure, which lasted six and a half seasons, and this season they have created the B team as the smallest goal conceded in Group 1 in the third division, and Sergio Francisco, who was the key player in the promotion to the second division, is now the manager of the first team.

With the goal of returning to the European Cup, the team began the preseason on July 7th, with the challenges of finding a replacement for his midfielder Subimendi and resolving his lack of scoring ability. Coach Sergio Francisco has used a total of 37 players in seven games, including the Japan Tour, finishing with three wins, three draws, one loss, and 10 points and five runs.

Although they used the 4-3-3, which was a major player by Imanol Alguacil, and the mid-diamond diamond-shaped 4-4-2, which worked well with David Silva on the underside three seasons ago, showing that they could respond flexibly from a tactical standpoint, they were unable to leave a positive image in terms of scoring and decisiveness. Looking at the number of times he used during kickoff (4-3-3 = 5 times, 4-4-2 = 2 times) and the way the players are used, there is a high chance that he will face the opening match against Valencia 4-3-3.

Kubo, who joined the Japan Tour, has earned five preseason games (3 starts) and has scored one goal and assisted one assist. All positions were 4-3-3 right wingers as last season, but local newspapers were particularly highly praised for their performance in the first three games.

■A candidate for reinforcement of Madrid

As for Kubo, I'm curious about his future, but now a major Spanish newspaper has reported that Atletico Madrid has been listed as a candidate for signing him. It is said that only if one player is sold, he may be able to reinforce the dribbler, who can compete with Simeone's third son, Giuliano, who has no substitute.

However, at this point, there are no vacant spaces in A Madrid's outside the EU, and it is essential to sell Nauel Molina or Gallagher, who is interested in clubs in England and Italy, the other candidate, Juventus' Argentine national team forward Nicolas Gonzalez, is in an advantageous position (he has retained dual citizenship with Italy; he has already made a request), Kubo's contract termination fee is not cheap at 60 million euros (about 10.2 billion yen), and if R Sociedad sells Kubo, he will be paid 50% of capital gains (revenues due to the difference between the purchase price and the sale price) to Real Madrid, a rival team in the same town. Considering all these circumstances, the hurdle for transfers this summer is high.

If this transfer were to be realized, Kubo will be the fourth-highest player in A-Madrid history, along with Diego Costa, after Joan Felix, Julian Alvarez and Toma Lemar.

Kubo Takefusa (left for the front) and other R-Sociedad players (photo taken in July 2025)

■Five members including Sadiq will be leaving

With the transfer market moving actively, R Sociedard has been pointed out for his slow reinforcement. Subimendi (Arsenal), Orasagusti (Levante), and Magna Seraia (Eibar) left the team this summer. Furthermore, none of the five players, Sadique, Carlos Fernandez, Odriozola, Becker and Javi Lopez, were given jersey numbers, and the match against Valencia was not called up, so there is a high possibility that they will leave the team.

In contrast, only two players have been acquired so far. Other additions include de Zarate, Gorochategi, Kalicable, and Goti, who have returned from the loan transfer, and team B-season.

Al Kadisiya (Saudi Arabia) Argentine national team midfielder Jesekiel Fernandez was the top candidate to replace Subimendi, but it is almost impossible to acquire him. When asked about the new midfielder acquisition, Chairman Jokin Apelivei stated that he was happy with the team's current situation and would not move unless there are players with good conditions.

Therefore, it appears that manager Sergio Francisco has decided to train from among the existing members in Milandes in the second division last season and entrust the role to Gorochategi, who took over as Subimendi's No. 4 (*hitting against Valencia due to a right ankle injury).

The hole that Agerudo, the key to defensive players, is covered by signing Croatian national team defender Chaletta Tsar from Lyon on a temporary transfer. Also, there is a possibility that Sergio Gomez will be used as left-back this season.

■The challenge is the lack of scoring ability last season.

Last season's team had a serious lack of scoring ability. Of the 38 league matches, he scored no goals in 19 games, and was the lowest out of 20 teams. His total score of 35 goals is third from the bottom, along with Mallorca. This is the first challenge that manager Sergio Francisco must overcome in order to return to the European Cup match.

To resolve this issue, they acquired Portuguese national team forward Gonzalo Geddes, who can play in a variety of positions on the front line. In the only preseason match he played, he was tested with the right wing. Although he is somewhat worried about his results in recent years, he is expected to compete for front positions with Kubo, Oyalzabal, Balenechea and Oscarson.

R Sociedad will soon begin his season's battle against Valencia. We will be looking at what kind of team members will be played by manager Sergio Francisco, who will be in charge of the first division league, and what role Kubo will play.

[Takahashi Tomoyuki](Nickan Sports.com/Soccer Column “Soccer Journey from Spain”)