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.