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The story
Japan national team MF Ritsu Doan spoke on the 22nd, after a national team training session in Chiba, about the Saudi Arabia transfer saga. This summer, after the World Cup, a move to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad had been considered all but certain, only for the deal to collapse at the last minute. Doan said, “I got ripped apart even though I never actually went,” while adding, “I’ve thought about this a hundred times more than the people criticizing me.” On 5channel threads, discussion spread to questions about why he turned down the move without ever giving a clear explanation, the report that manager Hajime Moriyasu said “Saudi Arabia is just about the money,” and a debate over who really deserves the national team’s No. 10 shirt or the captaincy.
On the 22nd, the Japan national team trained in Chiba ahead of the September/October international friendlies. Since the previous day’s session was moved indoors due to the approach of Typhoon No. 25, this was the first full outdoor session. All 29 players took the field, aside from DF Takehiro Tomiyasu (27, Crystal Palace), who was out injured, and GK Zion Suzuki (24, Aston Villa), who followed a separate training menu.
MF Ritsu Doan (28, Eintracht Frankfurt), whose move to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad had looked imminent this offseason following the FIFA World Cup, finally addressed the transfer saga.
“I got absolutely hammered for something I never even did,” he said self-deprecatingly, before adding: “I thought it through a lot. I just joked about getting ‘hammered,’ but honestly, I’ve thought about this — about my own career — a hundred times more than the people criticizing me. It’s my life. Whatever those people can come up with, I’ve already thought of it myself. I feel like I’ve worked through all of it in my own head.”
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
What are you talking about at this point?
He turned it down and is staying put.
Wait, THIS is the level of the people who were criticizing him? Lol
and when Kubo complained about how brutal the travel was for national team duty,
Doan said "if you don't want to come, just don't — I want to play in every single national team match."
So this is just karma boomeranging back on him…
but Moriyasu called him out on it, and it looked like going to Saudi would get him dropped from the squad or stripped of the No. 10 — so he backed out.
He's calling out exactly this kind of person — the ones who loudly broadcast speculation as if it were confirmed fact.
So what was the thing that actually pissed people off during the World Cup, in the end?
A player pushing 30 joining the Saudi league seems like a totally reasonable move.
being at a lower-level league makes it harder to feel like you belong.
Ao Tanaka's Leeds are strong — 5th in the Premier League.
https://imgur.com/4TgmWjr.jpeg
Points standings from December 2025 to now
No, Moriyasu actually said the Saudi move was just about the money…
I personally didn't mind if he went to Saudi, but that's what Moriyasu said.
How is that even "calling him out"?
He just stated a fact — he never said a single word like "is going to Saudi really a good idea…"
Sure, it's fine to think whatever you want in your head, but way too many people just blurt it straight out.
It wasn't the fans who stopped him — it was the JFA and Dentsu (Japan's top ad agency).
Can't just kick a ball around for fun forever.
Everyone's just thinking he's probably never getting an offer that good again.
If that's the logic, then going forward the captain should be whoever plays for the club closest to "big club" status.
By that measure, it'd be Hiroki Ito.
Hiroki Ito's been stuck on the bench and barely playing, so that's a tough sell.
The ones who are both near a big club AND actually starting
are Ao Tanaka or Zion Suzuki.
https://imgur.com/4TgmWjr.jpeg
Going by this season's Premier League standings, it's gotta be Ao Tanaka.
https://imgur.com/M5bBq7C.jpeg
Opta club rankings (as of Sept 19)
1st Arsenal
10th Brighton → Mitoma (out of matchday squad)
12th Aston Villa → Zion (Suzuki)
19th Leeds United → Ao Tanaka
32nd Crystal Palace → Kamada, Tomiyasu
35th Hull City → Morita (out of matchday squad)
36th Ipswich → Maeda (bench)
41st Monaco → Minamino (out of matchday squad)
45th Freiburg → Yuito
48th Coventry → Sakamoto (bench)
50th Lille → Ueda
51st Lyon → Keito Nakamura (bench)
65th Mainz → Kai Sano
82nd Feyenoord → Watanabe
88th Frankfurt → Doan, Kosugi
93rd Genk → Ito
101st Real Sociedad → Take Kubo
https://theanalyst.com/articles/who-are-the-best-football-team-in-the-world-opta-power-rankings
Wait, seriously? Kubo's club is ranked that low?
And on top of that, Kubo's been a total bench-warmer lately, so it's genuinely bad — his standing has dropped way too far.
Two years in Saudi, two years back in Europe —
that would've settled the question by the World Cup four years from now.
Saudi contracts run 3 years, so going back to Europe in time wouldn't have worked.
He probably never imagined that right after the World Cup he'd get offered a salary matching 4 billion yen in Europe.
If he'd just kept quiet during the World Cup, he might've actually gone through with it, lol
Like Honda Keisuke before him — doesn't exactly make you want to buy anything.
Mitoma, Zion, Keito —
hand it over to one of those guys instead.
Keito's stuck on the bench in the lower-level French league, though —
it should go to the strongest Premier League player instead.
That alone is disappointing.
It wasn't even just "considering" — the moment he skipped a league match and got on a plane to Saudi Arabia, the transfer was basically already decided.
Background and Talking Points
This summer, after the World Cup, Ritsu Doan’s move to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad had been considered all but certain, only to be called off at the last minute. Doan himself has never given a specific reason for why the deal collapsed, and the thread filled up with speculation — over a report that manager Hajime Moriyasu called the Saudi move “just about the money,” and over theories that the JFA or sponsors influenced the decision — none of which Doan has actually confirmed himself. Rather than dwelling on his motives, the discussion drifted toward ranking which players deserve the national team’s No. 10 shirt or the captaincy based on their club’s league level, citing Opta’s club rankings to compare the standing of players like Mitoma, Ao Tanaka, and Hiroki Ito. This says less about Doan personally than about a broader anxiety among national team fans over the fact that most Japan players in Europe are now at clubs sitting mid-table or lower in their leagues.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Soccer] MF Ritsu Doan Speaks on Saudi Transfer Saga: “I’ve Thought About This a Hundred Times More Than My Critics”.”
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