Arriving late in the summer transfer window, Takehiro Tomiyasu has ended up being a real coup for Arsenal this season.
Adapting very quickly to Premier League football, the Japan international was voted the Gunners’ September Player of the Month, and has become indispensable to Mikel Arteta’s plans this season.
The defender has yet to lose a game in an Arsenal shirt in the league, and there is no doubt he is one of the reasons why Arsenal have turned their season around.
Signed from Bologna for just under £17m, Tomiyasu could now end up being reunited with one of his former teammates, Mattias Svanberg, if the Gunners follow up on previous interest in him.
The 22-year-old Swede is becoming a key player at Bologna these days, and while his contract expires in 2023, he has agreed to renew until 2024.
That’s what Il Resto del Carlino are reporting on Wednesday, and yet they still see him as a ‘transfer market man for next summer, having already been in the sights of Inter, Napoli, Milan and Arsenal’.
While his contract renewal could ‘guarantee the possibility of holding onto a key element’, it’s also made clear that if ‘important offers (Tomiyasu style) arrive next summer’, Svanberg ‘would be left free to decide’.
Something for Arsenal to think about, as they could end up repeating a similar coup with a highly rated player who could go a long way to bolstering the midfield at the Emirates.
