After watching Aaron Wan-Bissaka pocket Kaoru Mitoma in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Brighton, Leicester’s James Maddison took to Twitter. “AWB is ridiculously good at 1 v 1 defending,” he wrote. “Probably the best in the world bar none. So many wingers run out of ideas when playing directly against him.”
Mitoma has been a breakout star this season, propelling Brighton towards European qualification. It is fair to say he is currently one of the most exciting wingers in world football, and even wrote a university thesis on dribbling, using cameras to analyse his teammates and how one might gain an advantage. But at Wembley the Japanese lost all six duels with Wan-Bissaka and lost possession 17 times before being substituted. When asked about the United right-back after the game, Mitoma said: “He is a strong opponent, that is what I thought while playing. I think it was a complete defeat.”
