Brighton Faces Crisis as Mitoma Likely Out for Season

Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi announced today, Tuesday, that "Kaoru Mitoma is likely to miss the team until the end of the season due to a back problem." The 26-year-old Japanese international missed Brighton's 1-1 draw with Everton in the league earlier this week due to the same issue. Mitoma also missed matches in December due to an ankle injury but was called up to the Japanese national team for the Asian Cup, which concluded earlier this February, where Japan was eliminated by Iran in the quarter-finals. Mitoma has scored three goals and provided six assists in 26 matches across all competitions for Brighton this season. De Zerbi told reporters before the match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday in the fifth round of the FA Cup: "I think we've lost Mitoma until the end of the season; this is a big problem. I think he will be out for two or three months, which ends the season for him." The team will then face Italian side Roma in the first leg of the Round of 16 in the Europa League on March 7.