Yoshinori Muto flourishing away from Newcastle at Vissel Kobe

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With Newcastle United struggling to cope without the goalscoring prowess of injured striker Callum Wilson, Steve Bruce must be craving back-up options who are capable of putting the ball in the back of the net.

Alongside Andy Carroll, Japan international Yoshinori Muto also left St. James’ Park this summer after a disappointing three-year spell with the club.

Muto went back to his native land and signed for Vissel Kobe where he is playing alongside the likes of Andres Iniesta and Thomas Vermaelen.

And the 29-year-old scored his first goal for the club on Friday. Muto’s header off a Yuya Osako cross took a deflection and snuck into the bottom corner.

Muto happy and flourishing

After opening his account for his new club, Muto now has one goal and three assists from his first five matches at Vissel Kobe, which is an impressive return.

In fact, he has managed more goalscoring contributions in his first five games back in Japan than he did during the entire 28 games he played for the Magpies.

The Japanese international only managed two goals during his time on Tyneside.

After a season-long loan move to Eibar last year, Muto joined the J-League club on a free transfer in August.

Never hit the heights at Newcastle

After signing from Bundesliga side Mainz for £9.6m (Transfermarkt) in August 2018, Muto arrived in Newcastle off the back of an impressive three-year stint in Germany where he even scored in the Europa League.

But he couldn’t transmit that form into the English game and ultimately rapidly fell down the pecking order.

Whilst Newcastle are still searching for their first win of the season and look to be heading for another relegation fight, Muto is playing alongside Iniesta who is one of the game’s all-time greats, in a team who is chasing AFC Champions League qualification.

Muto’s move to Newcastle didn’t work out for anyone, but it looks like the striker has got his career back on track and will no doubt kick on after scoring his first goal for his new club.