Arsenal player put forward for move Champions League rivals in ‘last few hours’

Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu has reportedly been ‘proposed’ to fellow Champions League outfit Napoli.

The Gunners defender has dropped behind Ben White in the right-back pecking order, and has mostly been used as a left-back this season.

Despite still being a valuable member of the squad, Calciomercato has now reported that Tomiyasu has been put forward for a return to Serie A.

The report claims that there’s a possibility for the Arsenal man to return to Italy in January.

Apparently, the option for Tomiyasu to join the Naples club has emerged in the ‘last few hours’, after he was offered to them.

However, Napoli have a ‘double problem’ with regards to acquiring the Gunners defender’s services next month.

One of those is Mikel Arteta, who considers Tomiyasu a useful member of the squad and not surplus to requirements.

Calciomercato claim the Arsenal manager could change his stance if the Italians were to table a ‘good offer’, which would then allow the Gunners to find his successor.

The other problem for Napoli is that Tomiyasu is set to play for Japan at the Asian Cup in January, which could rule him out of club action until mid-February.

Arsenal unlikely to let Takehiro Tomiyasu leave in January – TBR View
It seems extremely unlikely that Arsenal will allow Tomiyasu to leave in the January transfer window.

Even though he’s no longer a regular starter, he still gets plenty of game time when available, and is a ‘world-class‘ talent with the perfect attitude.

Even if Tomiyasu wanted to leave for guaranteed first-team football and Arteta opted to let him go out of goodwill, chances are any such move would happen at the end of the campaign, not mid-season.

Many clubs this season have suffered from players being injured or suspended and having to field depleted teams which have led to poor results.

With that in mind, Arteta surely wouldn’t deliberately weaken his squad’s strength in depth mid-season.