Kodai
Sano
CMJapan · NEC Nijmegen
Player dossierEredivisie
KodaiSano
CMCentral MidfieldMidfield
- Club
- NEC Nijmegen
- League
- Eredivisie
- Nationality
- Japan
- Age
- 22
- Height
- 180 cm
- Foot
- Right
- Valued
- 28 May 2026
EredivisieReading the valuation
The market values Sano at €12M. Model A, which never saw Sano during training, estimates €8.9M: the market value is 35% above that estimate.
That is a factor of ×1.35. Model A's typical held-out miss is ×1.50 either way, so this gap is within its usual error.
Without league and club, Model B estimates €8.2M, further from the market. Model B is usually further off (typical miss ×2.07): league and club explain much of how the market prices players.
A gap describes the model's arithmetic for this player's inputs, not what the player is worth.
- Apps
- 66
- Minutes
- 5,709
- Goals
- 5
- Assists
- 10
- Started
- 64/66
- Min / app
- 87
- Cards
- 8Y 1R
Club matches, two years to the valuation date
The Valuation Journey
What moves Model A
Asking the prediction API to explain Model A for Sano…
SHAP describes the model's arithmetic for this player's inputs, not what causes market value. Model B can be explained only by the live service; Model A also has a published explanation for the research players.
Model A vs Model B against the observed €12M
Checking APIAsking the prediction API…
Held-out estimates come from cross-validation, with this player outside the training data: the honest comparison. Served models were refitted on every player, this one included, so they sit closer to the market. Shaded band: Model A's typical miss (×1.50 either way).
Player traitspercentiles vs 1,687 midfielders
Dashed ring: the midfielder median (50th percentile)
Minutes, last 365 days
Club minutes in the final year of the window: recent involvement, or the absence of it.
3,494 this player1,541 midfielder median97th percentile
No passing, progression or defensive actions exist in the dataset, so no trait claims to measure them.
Valuation history every Transfermarkt valuation on record
- First valuation
- €150k
- Jun 2022
- Peak
- €12M
- Mar 2026
- Model target
- €12M
- May 2026
- Valuations
- 13
- 1 club change
May 2026: €12M, NEC Nijmegen. Dotted lines mark the €2M, €10M and €30M tier boundaries.
Show as a table
| Date | Market value | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-06-28 | €150k | Fagiano Okayama |
| 2023-01-06 | €350k | Fagiano Okayama |
| 2023-06-27 | €450k | Fagiano Okayama |
| 2023-12-15 | €450k | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2024-03-18 | €1M | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2024-05-31 | €4M | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2024-10-14 | €5M | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2024-12-17 | €4M | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2025-05-28 | €4M | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2025-10-02 | €5M | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2025-12-02 | €6M | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2026-03-11 | €12M | NEC Nijmegen |
| 2026-05-28 | €12M | NEC Nijmegen |
Audit context group-level, not about this player
- Audit group
- non-UEFA
- Population gap, Model A
- +0.093 95% CI +0.063 to +0.124
- This player, market vs held-out A
- +0.298
The group comes from first-listed citizenship and is never a model input. Across the population, non-UEFA players' market values sit about 10% above Model A's held-out estimates, relative to UEFA players in the same leagues. One player's residual says nothing about that pattern (typical miss ×1.50), and none of it is evidence of discrimination: the target may itself be biased. Open the Fairness Audit
In context observed value among comparable players in this build
All players in the Terminal →Eredivisie425 players · median €1M
Valued above 93% of the 425 Eredivisie players.
See them in the Explorer →Midfielders, all leagues1,687 players · median €2M
Valued above 81% of the 1,687 midfielders.
See them in the Explorer →Where Sano appears
Watchlists and the comparison tray are kept in this browser only.
Near this valuation closest observed values: same league, then same position
- KoopmeinersDMAZ Alkmaar · Eredivisie€12M
- SutaloCBAjax Amsterdam · Eredivisie€12M
- Salah-EddineLBPSV Eindhoven · Eredivisie€12M
- BosLBFeyenoord Rotterdam · Eredivisie€12M
- GoretzkaCMBayern Munich · midfielders€12M
- SzymanskiAMStade Rennais FC · midfielders€12M
- CamaraCMStade Rennais FC · midfielders€12M
- OdgaardAMBologna FC 1909 · midfielders€12M
Counts and ranks of observed Transfermarkt values only; model errors are never ranked here. Full player export: Every player in the modelling population (D-011).