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Takehiro Tomiyasu has had a monumental impact on Arsenal ever since he joined the Gunners on loan from Bologna on deadline day. So much so that Andre Pinto, the sporting director at Sint-Truiden, described the Japanese international's personality and determination similar to Cristiano Ronaldo's.
He said:
"What is amazing about Tomi is that he doesn’t accept anything that isn’t success. He’s not lucky, nothing for Tomi comes because he’s lucky. He’s just a hard working player. You find a lot of dedicated players, but Tomi has a little bit of the Cristiano Ronaldo mentality in terms of determination, in terms of working hard and in terms of eating healthy."
“He is the type of player who is never satisfied. He will always continue to work hard to keep developing himself.”
The defender from Japan couldn't have asked for a better start as Mikel Arteta's side made a remarkable turnaround. They were at the bottom of the Premier League table before Tomiyasu was called on board.
Several pundits labeled him a last minute "panic buy." However, since his onboarding, the Gunners have won all three of their Premier League games, beating Norwich, Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur. Crucially, Arsenal have conceded just one goal in those matches, and currently sit in tenth position.
Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in two of their last three league games, reiterating the prodigious impact Tomiyasu's signing has had. No player has been able to dribble past the Japanese defender, who now has an overall duel success rate of 76 per cent.
"It was an easy choice for me" - Takehiro Tomiyasu reveals why he joined Arsenal
The Arsenal defender was causing havoc on the pitches in Belgium before a number of prominent teams knocked on the door to hire the 22-year-old.
However, he moved to Bologna in Italy for over £6 million ($7.6m) in July 2019 and took no time to make an impact.
Takehiro surprised everyone by dabbling between different positions across the back four, and made 29 league appearances in his first season in Italy and 31 in his second.
Be that as it may, the Japanese prodigy had always wanted to play in England ever since an English side, including Ainsley Maitland-Niles, destroyed Japan 5-1.
Here's what Tomiyasu had to say about his move to Arsenal:
"I was very excited as soon as I knew. I didn't need to call anyone or speak to anyone for advice.It was an easy choice for me, because, well because it's Arsenal. I didn't even have time to speak to the manager before signing the contract, and I didn't need to. I wanted to come."
Arsenal look more balanced now than they did when they started the campaign. Although they are on the right track, subsequent games will be pretty decisive for Arsenal as they take on Brighton tomorrow before going off on an internal break.
