The second signing of the summer by Arsene Wenger has not exactly set pulses racing among the Arsenal fanbase and that is hardly surprising as not many of us had even heard about the young Japanese international forward Takuma Asano until last week.
There is a strong suspicion that this transfer deal is as much about the commercial benefits from the affluent Asian market as it is about football on the pitch and as the 21-year old will not even be able to play for us until he is granted a work permit and so will be heading out on loan certainly backs up this theory.
But Wenger and the Arsenal scouting team have unearthed some hidden gems in the past and so I think we should at least give the lad a chance, especially after reading some very positive and encouraging things about him in a Squawka.com report. Because so little is known about Asano the website asked a Japanese football expert Koki Harada to give his thoughts and they are certainly interesting.
As well as claiming that Arsenal have another lightning quick player to go with the likes of Walcott and Bellerin, the journalist reckons that there is a touch of Eden Hazard about our new player.
Harada said, “He is one of the fastest players in Asia, and is maybe quicker than Theo Walcott.
“He is a player between Eden Hazard and Walcott. Very fast and capable of finding the space behind the defender. He is not only a scorer but also a chance maker.
His nickname is ‘Jaguar’ because he runs quickly and hunts the ball. Now he is doing an imitation of a Jaguar as his goal celebration.”
It is not all positive though, as the Japanese journalist also suggested that Asano has a lot of improving to do to first earn his work permit as an outstanding young talent and then to break into the Arsenal first team but I for one will be trying to keep an eye on him wherever he does end up playing next season.
Have Arsenal got a star of the future or just another Park Chu-Young?
Bob.
……………………Cech
bellerin….Koscielny…Benatia…Monreal
…………….Xhaka….Cazorla
..Aubemeyang……Ozil………….Alexis
………………Lewandowski
or more likely
……………………Cech
bellerin….Koscielny…Mert/Gabs…Monreal
…………….Xhaka….Cazorla
..Ramsey…………Ozil………….Alexis
………………….Giroud/Theo
I know we get injuries but where will Coquelin, Xhaka and Elneny play?
Wenger needs to take a book out of Zidane’s book and stop making players fit his system and make the system fit the strengths of the players.
Ramsey ripped up the Euros playing through the middle, everyone bar Wenger knows it’s his place.
I think we could flatten the midfield to make a midfield 3.
Especially if ozil or coqulan are unavailable this worked well when diaby and wilshire had there best season
The fact that you have both Aubameyang and Lewandowski made me laugh
Last season Okasaki played
36 games for Leicester.
Tv and social media face time
in the Japanese market alone
would have doubled Leicesters value
and paid his wages.
So the “Jag” is “potentially” a money making machine.
So may be we should have an Indian a Chinese
and American player in the squad to grow the market.
What about sacking Steve Bould and hiring
Maria Sharapova as eye candy.
put the jaguar in the forest first and lets see how it hunts… the japanese forest is different to that of the UK… we are left here with hopes.
Buying this kid is Bullsh!t he’s there for the money making potential
Meanwhile EVERYONE else is buying up players that will make a difefrence on the pitch instead of sitting on thier hands
the very fact that Van Persie is or maybe a potential buyback is an astounding slap in the face for the arsenal fanbase
what next I ask ?
This article must be a joke, darn he did it again (Wenger) another year of sorrow, hope the last one, but came to the conclusion after watching the Euros that is not the players, Ramsey a phenomenon, Giroud not that awful as a striker, is da man, Le Prof the problem, bringing the Asian superstar just proves that his plight is to increase the owners profit with no regards in building a contending team filling up the gaps….this man is one of a kind….