Maika Hamano: Chelsea's Rising Star in Fantasy Football

Maika Hamano returns to Chelsea this season looking less like a prospect and more like a problem for opposition defences.

Listed at just £5.0m in Fantasy, the 22-year-old midfielder sits in that tempting bracket where value meets serious upside. She finished last season on 42 points, but everything about her trajectory suggests that number is there to be attacked, not admired.

Hamano’s rise has been rapid. One of the standout young players in the Barclays Women’s Super League, she offers Chelsea something managers crave: flexibility with end product. Comfortable across multiple positions in the attacking third, the Japan international could become a central figure for the Blues after a summer in which several long-serving stalwarts moved on.

Her league minutes for Chelsea last term were limited – just four BWSL appearances – but she still made a mark. Her only league goal came on the opening day, a sharp finish in a 2-1 win over eventual champions Manchester City. Then came the January switch across London to Tottenham Hotspur, a loan that did exactly what it was supposed to do: 10 league outings, real responsibility, and the kind of experience that hardens a young player for the demands of a title chase.

While her club career was building, her international profile exploded. Earlier this year, Hamano delivered the decisive moment in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup final, scoring a stunning winner for Nadeshiko Japan to reclaim the continental crown against Australia on their own turf. It was a cold-blooded contribution on a big stage, the sort that sticks in a coach’s mind.

It was not her first major honour, either. She had already announced herself globally by taking the Golden Ball at the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in 2022, underlining her status as one of the most gifted young attackers in the game.

Now she is back in blue, and she has wasted no time reminding everyone what she can do. Hamano marked her return from Spurs by finding the net in a 7-0 pre-season win over Auckland FC, a clean, confident finish that hinted at a player ready to step into a bigger role. The message was simple: give her trust, and she’ll give you numbers.

For Fantasy managers, that trust could be rewarded handsomely. At £5.0m, Hamano profiles as one of the potential bargains of the season – a low-risk price for a midfielder who has shown she can start fast and influence games early in a campaign. With Chelsea opening at Stamford Bridge against Aston Villa on Saturday, September 5, she is positioned perfectly to ride that early-season momentum again.

An expanded 2026/27 season only adds to the intrigue. With more fixtures, more rotation, and more chances to impress, Hamano has a clear runway to smash past last year’s 42-point tally. The only real question now is how quickly Chelsea’s coaching staff decide she is no longer just a promising option, but a first-name-on-the-teamsheet kind of player.