Interviews

"I Want To Show Everything I Have" | Atuski Ito

28th August 2026

Atsuki Ito has lifted the AFC Champions League. He has been named in the J1 League Best XI, captained one of Japan's biggest clubs and scored for his country. He has two seasons of top-flight Belgian football and a European campaign behind him.

Now, at 28, he has chosen Bolton Wanderers for the next chapter and he arrives with a clear idea of what he wants to do here.

"Playing in the English Championship is going to be a big challenge for me," Ito said, speaking to bwfc.co.uk after completing his three-year move from KAA Gent. "And I'm really happy to be able to play for a club with this much history. I want to make sure I deliver results here."

Ito had options this summer. What settled it, he says, was the conviction of the approach - the sense of a club that knew exactly what it wanted from him.

"I had a really passionate approach from the club and it made me want to play here," he said. "I want to give everything I have to live up to that expectation."

It is a good match on paper as well as in the room. Ito brings 250-plus senior appearances, silverware on two continents and a level of tournament experience few midfielders at this level can claim; the Emperor's Cup in 2021, the Japanese Super Cup in 2022 and in May 2023 a starting role in the AFC Champions League final as Urawa Red Diamonds beat Al Hilal in front of a packed Saitama Stadium to lift a third Asian crown. That run took him to the FIFA Club World Cup, and that same year he was named in Japan's league Best XI and won the J1 Outstanding Player Award.

Two years at Gent added a European education to it: 79 appearances, seven goals and nine games in the 2024/25 UEFA Conference League as the Belgians came through qualifying and the league phase to reach a knockout play-off against Real Betis.

Ask what supporters should expect and Ito is refreshingly precise. He has played right across the middle of the pitch, and he is comfortable anywhere in it — but he knows which version of himself is the one that wins games.

"Whether it's as a number eight or a ten, I believe I can play with quality anywhere," he said. "But my best position is the number eight - box-to-box is my strength.

"If I can show that, I can help the team win and if I can do that then I can live up to the supporters' expectations too. That's what I'm working towards. I want to show everything I have."

The numbers support the description. Five goals in his final half-season in Japan; four in the Belgian top flight last season. At 6ft 1in he is a genuine physical presence in midfield, but his goals come from arriving late in the box rather than sitting in front of his own - a midfielder built to cover ground in both directions.

Ito has done his homework on the Championship and he likes what it asks of him.

"It's going to be a big challenge. There are a lot of games and it's a league where physical, tough matches come one after another," he said. "But I believe I can show my strengths in that environment.

"I'm really looking forward to taking it on. It's a big challenge for the team as well and I want to do everything I can to contribute to that."

That relish for the physical side of English football, coupled with two years of adapting to a new country and a new league in Belgium, is exactly what Wanderers were looking for.

Ito becomes the fourth Japanese player to represent Bolton Wanderers and the first to arrive on a permanent transfer.

The three before him all came on loan: striker Akinori Nishizawa, whose late equaliser against Walsall sealed a 4-3 League Cup win in 2001; winger Ryo Miyaichi, who arrived from Arsenal in January 2012 and was named Player of the Month inside a fortnight and Hidetoshi Nakata, the 77-cap midfielder widely regarded as the finest footballer his country has produced, who spent the 2005/06 season at the club.

It is a lineage Ito knew about long before this move and one he is proud to join.

"I knew that players who are called legends in Japan and other great players, had played for this club," he said. "To be the next Japanese player to follow them - and the first for a long time - means something.

"I think if I do well here, people in Japan who don't know the club will get to know it, and the people who already do will pay even more attention. That's another reason I want to produce results."

Ito won three caps for Japan in 2023 and marked his first start with a goal in a 4-2 win over Turkey. Getting back into that squad remains the target and he sees Bolton as the place to earn it.

"The level of the Japan squad right now is very high, with outstanding players," he said. "But I believe that if I can perform well in the Championship, here at Bolton, there's a chance to get back there.

"That motivation is always with me. The feeling of wanting to return to the national team has never gone away. First I have to produce here. Then I'll wait for that chance to come."

For a club with its own ambitions this season, a midfielder that driven is a useful thing to have. And Ito is not short of enthusiasm for the part he is about to play.

"I can't wait to play in front of the supporters in this fantastic stadium as soon as I can," he said. "I want to give everything to help the team win."

日本のサッカーファンの皆さまへ

このたび、伊藤敦樹選手がボルトン・ワンダラーズの一員となりました。

ボルトン・ワンダラーズは1874年創設。イングランドで最も長い歴史を持つクラブのひとつであり、フットボールリーグの創設メンバー12クラブのひとつでもあります。

伊藤選手は、西澤明訓、中田英寿、宮市亮に続き、当クラブでプレーする4人目の日本人選手。そして、完全移籍で加入する初めての日本人選手となります。

今シーズン、私たちはイングランド2部・チャンピオンシップを戦います。年間46試合、ヨーロッパでも屈指の激しさと予測不可能さで知られるリーグです。

その戦いを、日本からライブでご覧いただけます。

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