Arsenal have agreed a deal to sign the 21-year-old Japanese striker Takuma Asano, from J-League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Asano made his full international debut for Japan last August and has since gone on to make five appearances for his country. The forward is expected to be named in the Japan squad for the Rio Olympics later this summer.
“Takuma is a talented young striker and very much one for the future,” said the Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger. “He has had an impressive start to his career in Japan and we look forward to him developing over the next couple of years.”
The forward boosts Arsenal’s attacking options after their pursuit of the Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy ended in failure.
“He has decided to stay at Leicester and good luck to him. He came late to the game and in fairness Leicester bought him from Fleetwood and he has been successful. He is 29 and he has chosen to stay at Leicester. You have to respect that,” said Wenger.
Although considered as one for the future, Asano, whose transfer is subject to the completion of a medical, is expected to train with Arsenal’s first-team squad. Asano becomes the third Japanese player to play under Wenger at Arsenal, following on from midfielders Junichi Inamoto and Ryo Miyaichi.
Wenger recently ruled out a move for the Leicester midfielder N’Golo Kanté, who impressed during his first season in the Premier League. Claudio Ranieri signed Nampalys Mendy from Nice on Sunday, widely thought to be a replacement for Kanté, who has a £20m release clause in his contract. “Kanté is on the list of many clubs. It is an area where we have many players. We will see what happens in the next two or three weeks,” Wenger said. “It looks like Leicester have bought a player from Nice with similar qualities to Kanté, so whether they envisage to lose him or not I don’t know.”
(Guardian service)
