According to The Athletic, Takehiro Tomiyasu is the latest Arsenal star in line for a new deal.
The 25-year-old is effectively under contract until 2026 thanks to a 12-month extension clause which could be activated at the end of next season. All the same, it looks like Mikel Arteta is keen to reward the Japan international for his impressive form.
Tomiyasu joined from Bologna in 2021 as a bit of an unknown quantity (completely unknown if you worked as a Sky Sports reporter) but he immediately won supporters over with his diligent performances. While injuries curtailed his involvement in the last two campaigns, when fit, there’s no doubt he’s a fine player.
As Mikel Arteta mentioned in September, the Japan international’s versatility makes him particularly useful.
“I always said that I’m really confident that the moment Tomi has consistency, he’s going to be a tremendous asset for us. He already is,” said the Spaniard.
“He can play in any position in the backline, any formation in the backline, we don’t have another player like him.
“At defending, he’s probably one of the best that I’ve seen in many situations. His concepts, his principles, the way he applies that, the way he goes into duels…now he needs a run of games so that physically he’s at his best.”
Tomi has had that run in recent weeks, featuring in both full-backs as part of the meanest defence in the Premier League.
His performances haven’t gone unnoticed with rumours circulating recently that Bayern Munich have been keeping tabs on the player. A new deal at Arsenal should nip those in the bud.
As far as we’re aware, the Gunners are also trying to persuade Ben White to pen new terms at the Emirates.
Helluva a player to have in a squad competing for domestic and euro competitions. Plug him in anywhere across the backline and we lose basically nothing.
Ah yes, Sebastian Helluva. Been really good at Sporting Gijon this season.
But please, this is an article about our beloved Tomi.
Your four hats and coat sir. Please let the door hit you on the way out.
Or as we say phonetically, Ay-you-wa at Sporting Heewahn. I love Seb.
Is there any other defender on the planet who’s world class in all 4positions? The ultimate swiss army knife!
There was a Swiss army knife designed by a Japanese designer. As Providence would have it, it was called Tomo https://www.smartknives.com/Victorinox-Keychain-Knives/Tomo.htm
Tomi is so important to the team.
RB, LB, CB, just a great asset and very humble guy. When we attack down the right I still feel Ben White has a better chemistry with Saka& MO, but Tomi showed us he has the passing ability against Lens to get assists. Against teams like Liverpool/City/Real Madrid/Bayern we should definitely play Tomi since he gives us that extra defensive security over Zinchenko. Against smaller teams like Sp*rs, Chelsea and United Zinchenko and White give us more attacking options.
Hard to believe he is just 25. I hope it doesn’t come down to signing either White or Tomiyasu long term (since we have Timber returning next season) and can sign both long term. If we keep the backline together along with Rice in front of them we will be set on defense for years to come and can concentrate our transfer purchases in attack and a backup for Rice.
With Artetas love for defenders, I doubt he’ll let one of them go.
man I do love this guy.
I mean I love most of them at the moment.
But this guy really is a special, no nonsence, great defender.
Great news, I don’t remember the last time we had a fullback who is such a beast. Kind of like Nacho in his consistency but more robust and a better defender.
Sagna. Both great defenders and super reliable
Great shout. But Tomi is more valuable because he can play anywhere across the back. Sagna probably could have, but never did.
Sagna did, but not regularly. Played CB a handful of times, mostly in cups, and left back a very few times late in his Arsenal career.
Always good in the air when he played CB too. Top player. Nacho, Sagna and Tomy produce the same emotion in me when defending, confidence.
Of course, Sagna was excellent. Was pretty sad that he opted for City. Same with Clichy. Oh and Benny Blanco, but his quality is just a given at this point
Sagna was class! My fav for a while. I never really minded the city move, though it was disappointing – but it was just a final paycheck that he wouldn’t have got from Arsene. I think he was a good servant of the club overall.
Ah Sagna.. So many memories but for me the best was the header he scored against sp*ds to put us back in the game after going 2 goals down (both scored by that horrific c*nt adebayor; the second one a penalty after a blatant bale dive). Sagna not only started the come back but he later assisted the goal that saw us take the lead on the way to a very memorable 5-2 win. That game was one roller coaster of emotions!
Lauren!
100% makes sense.
Very hard to find these sort of players.. he’s a gem and we need to keep him for as long as we can.
Surely the best £ to value player we’ve bought during Arteta’s reign. 16m for someone with his versatility and physicality, absolute steal in today’s market
100%. One of our pillars for future success no doubt. Sign da ting tomi!
I really like Tomiyasu, but I want to share something I’ve seen with him. This might seem surprising to say about a player who is so good in duels, but the one thing I would tell him is that he lets players bully him sometimes, and instead of giving back he’ll look for a foul, which leaves the situation in the referee’s hands. Probably the best example of this is the Koleosho non-foul in the buildup to Burnley’s goal, or when Maupay went through his back to put the header on goal that Zinchenko saves. Both of those are smaller… Read more »
I don’t think it’s an isolated problem for him, it’s a problem a lot of defenders who come from outside the UK have, and maybe even more so outside of Europe. And it’s not because they’re sissies or easily bullied but because the game is called very differently in most other places, and when you knock a player to the ground a foul is called. If you’ve learned to play that way your whole life since childhood you will develop a natural instinct to assume that kind of physical play will almost always get punished, and then you’ll be in… Read more »
You have changed loads, Very nice. Things that some of our fans cannot do or remember. What makes AFC doing well so amazing? Fucking over other fan bases,,,but fucking our own fan base over who forgot which player to fuck with this week. It is beautiful. Yes, yes – we all have opinions. That is what pussies say to defend others who shit on our own fans so they get clicks. It happens, part of the process. Look at Ebo now sounding al reasonable. Well done, man. Imagine how easy it is to explain shit when we are top of… Read more »
Remember the years we used to sweat over star player contract renewals? Tomi is definitely signing 👍🏼
No, I refuse to remember those years. These are much better…
Or remember the years we sweated over mediocre players not resigning because we lost the understanding of what it takes to be at the top. Arteta is building a team to go all the way. It’s nice to be on a meaningful quest again with a team full of players who deserve our support. What a time to be alive and be a Gooner.
I love Tomi. Such a complete player. Remeber when pundits were talking about quality Emerson Royal vs “nobody” Tomiyasu?
Love him. He won me over straight away with his spirited performances.
Arsenal loves Tomi.
Tomi loves Arsenal.
It doesn’t get any simpler than this.
Sign da ting!
His cheek bones alone are worth 150k a week
Curious to know what fellow gooners think. With a full strength squad including timber available, which 4 will be your starting back 4? Personally i’d go for tomi, white, saliba, timber
I think White Saliba Gabi Timber.
I think Saliba is generally the right CB…
depends on the tactics needed for each game. No need for such black and white binary thinking. Each player have their own qualities, look how we used Tomi against Salah last year, and with Timber being more of an inverted RB and White’s ability to overlap and use the touchline as well as link up with attackers we have a lot of differing options to optimize as well counter differing oppenents
Slightly off topic but is Andrew the voice of Christmas FM? It sounds just like him!
Yes, that’s me 😉
Is Christmas FM available in the states?
Yeah – online. https://christmasfm.com
For what is worth, I hope you are the guy who mods me and checks. I owe you, man. Through tough times in my life.. as much as you annoyed me with some of your bullshit…thank you for this place,.your blogs and your podcasts, especially with James. James. If I could be a white bald man – it would be him, Sometimes, it is more than about football. For me, it is. I might only post a drunk cunt rant…that’s on me. Anyways…thank you, you do very well…even if you don’t like Phil. This whole site.. the total coverage..including the… Read more »
Sign, domo arigato gozaimasu!
Tomi. You just can’t help but love that japanese humble character and steel-edged will, cleverly disguised as a (forgive me) brick shithouse. What a guy!
I’m slightly unable to mentally cope with the fact that for a couple of decades, it’s been a bit of a mess trying to find 4 suitable guys in the locker room to make up our defence, and now I’m trying to figure out a way where we can play 6 defenders…. and Zinny… without really having to take out any of the guys further up-field. It’s mad.