Arsenal has agreed a deal to sign young forward, Takuma Asano, from Japanese Sanfreece Hiroshima. As expected, the manager had some nice things to say about the lad,
“Takuma is a talented young striker and very much one for the future. He has had an impressive start to his career in Japan and we look forward to him developing over the next couple of years.”
This transfer caught everyone by surprise, and Gooners will get a first-hand glimpse of their new signing at the forthcoming 2016 Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro. The young Jap joined Hiroshima Sanfreece when he was 18 and his footballing CV isn’t bad for a player his age – two J1-League titles and the Japanese Super Cup on three consecutive occasions between 2013 and 2015. He has even added an individual award to that collection when he won the J-League Rookie of the Year in 2015.
Asano receiving his Rookie of the Year award
His stats are not that bad either – 11 goals in 56 games for the Japanese forward, so there wouldn’t be much expectations on the lad as he continues his footballing education in North London. With whispers surfacing that Asano might not be granted a work permit, Arsenal would have to farm him out on loan and monitor his progress before a confirmed assessment can be made on him.
I went to YouTube to check for a compilation of any sort for the lad and boy, he’s one speed merchant which proves that the nickname he earned in Japan, the Jaguar, was a correct assessment of his abilities.
Many fans are hoping that Asano would not be the only attacking signing the Gunners would make but it has been believed that several other scouts from Chelsea, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax Amsterdam, Salzburg, Augsburg and VFL Wolfburg had their eyes on Asano but the Gunners acted fast to get their man. This proves that the Gunners can be decisive when they want to be in regard to dealings in the transfer window, so I guess the fans have to be patient.
While it’s all nice and good signing a new Japanese player that would be good for the commercial windfall associated with buying a player from the Far East club, one must wonder what would happen to the likes of Serge Gnabry and Chuba Akpom, that seemed to be close to first team action, only to be shipped out on unsuccessful loan spells. From what I’ve checked, Asano can play as a center forward and he’s also adept on the right wing, which means that he’d provide some measure of competition for the aforementioned players. That’s also a position covered by Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Iwobi and Joel Campbell. So it’s going to be interesting to see how its managed.
Arsenal’s last two Japanese signings, Junichi Inamoto and Ryo Miyaichi, turned out to be massive disappointments but I’m hoping that this third signing would be the reverse.
I wish the young Jap the very best and I hope he develops into a beast someday.
Sayonara.
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