Top five Japanese players with most goals in Premier League history

Kaoru Mitoma recently became the highest-scoring Japanese player in the English top flight.

Many Japanese players have appeared in Premier League history. They have represented many big sides and established themselves there as the best players of their respective clubs.

A number of Japanese players have had a major influence on the Premier League throughout its history. Top players in the Premier League include Maya Yoshida, Shinji Kagawa, and Shinji Okazaki.

Shinji Okazaki and Shinji Kagawa are two of the best Japanese players in the Premier League in terms of goal scoring. Kaoru Mitoma has just emerged as one of the best scorers in league history. With that, we examine the list of Japanese players who have scored the most goals in league history.

5. Maya Yoshida: 5 goals

It turned out that Southampton’s £3 million summer 2012 signing Maya Yoshida was a complete bargain. With five goals throughout his tenure at Saints, the towering centre-back was one of the team’s best-scoring defenders during his time there. He played in one of the team’s most successful eras in recent memory.

He went on to make 154 Premier League appearances for the Saints.

4. Shinji Kagawa: 6 goals

When Manchester United paid £12 million to persuade Borussia Dortmund to let him go in 2012, he fell short of their expectations.

The gifted playmaker was one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s final acquisitions before he left the “Theatre of Dreams.” Under David Moyes, he failed to get consistent first-team playing time and finished his United career with just six goals.

3. Takumi Minamino – 6 goals

When Minamino moved to Anfield from RB Salzburg in January 2020 for £7.25 million, he also became the first Japanese player in history to play for Liverpool. He won the Premier League six months after arriving in Merseyside, ending Klopp’s team’s thirty-year wait to earn the biggest honour in English football.

However, the midfielder would not register his initial league goal for the Reds for nearly a year. When Minamino scored against Crystal Palace in December 2020, he finally found his first Premier League goal. He went on to score five more goals.

2. Shinji Okazaki: 14 goals

Before Mitoma surpassed his record, Shinji Okazaki was the top Japanese player in the Premier League in terms of goals scored. Leicester City spent £7 million to sign him from Mainz in 2015. The forward helped the Foxes defeat their underdog status and win the league in the inaugural campaign at the King Power Stadium, contributing to one of the biggest sporting upsets in history.

Okazaki scored 14 Premier League goals throughout his three seasons at Leicester. However, the club offloaded him after he failed to make an impact.

1. Kaoru Mitoma: 19 goals

Brighton attacker Kaoru Mitoma broke the previous record for the highest number of goals recorded by a Japanese player in the Premier League, marking a significant milestone for himself.

Kaoru Mitoma is now the top Japanese scorer in Premier League history with 15 goals ‼️🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/IzgpECbyj1

— Premier League USA (@PLinUSA) January 19, 2025

On January 19, 2025, Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma scored his 15th league goal in the 3-1 win against Manchester United, surpassing Shinji Okazaki’s milestone for most Premier League goals by a Japanese player. Mitoma broke Okazaki’s record with a goal in the 60th minute. He had previously scored three goals last season after bouncing back from a back injury, and seven goals in his debut season at Brighton.

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