Arsenal: Making Sense Of Takuma Asano Transfer

Arsenal signed a striker! Who is a 21 year old Japanese player named Takuma Asano. I’m going to do my best to justify this transfer. It won’t be easy.

The joke is going to be made ad nauseum, but Arsenal have signed a striker at long last. A 21 year old Japanese striker that no one has heard of (cheers and applause). Takuma Asano’s signing moved with rapid pace as Wenger completed the signing of the Sanfrecce Hiroshima product in a matter of days. It has been announced by the club’s official website.

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It’s not what we wanted to hear. Not by a long shot. We were hoping for Alexandre Lacazette. Or Mauro Icardi. Or someone that wasn’t an unknown 21 year old Japanese player that, in all likelihood, won’t succeed.

I’m not saying that to be disrespectful to Asano. But Japanese players rarely have a successful run in England. Ryo Miyaichi had pace for days and he couldn’t cut it. Even a proven German commodity like Shinji Kagawa couldn’t replicate his Dortmund success at United. It’s not an easy transition.

So how do we make sense of this signing? Well, it’s hard. To be fair, I do get excited when Arsene Wenger signs a project. As much as I harp on him for his failed projects, he has turned up guys like Robin van Persie. That was kind of cool. Granted, RVP was highly touted and not a 21 year old Japanese striker, but still. Wenger does know how to pick them from time to time.

Plus, £5m is a lot of money for someone who has just made their international debut and only had one meaningful season in the J-League. The 2015 season saw him score 14 goals in 42 appearances. Not bad. Not great.

The season that was in progress though, saw six goals in 16 appearances. Getting better. While price tag is rarely a good justification, clearly Wenger strongly believes in this kid. And, again, to be fair, Wenger coached in Japan, so maybe he knows a bit more about it then others, like myself.

He is that small, quick striker that Arsenal fans have been clamoring for. And I have been begging for a striker with future prospects for quite some time now. Akpom, Mavididi and Malen all look great, but a little extra help is always nice when you’re back to considering Yaya Sanogo.

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So we’ve got all that. There is reason to be excited about young Asano, despite all the negative premonitions surrounding the move, such as the history of Japanese players in England and the poor timing of the move. Wenger can turn up gems for Arsenal. Just because his most recent project turned out to be Yaya Sanogo doesn’t mean we should ignore some of his genius moves in the past.

My only concern, and I’ll admit, it’s a majorly hypothetical concern, is what if the news comes out that Wenger passed on Lacazette over, say, a £5m difference in cost. He’s been known to do this before, I believe. Then, there will be hell to pay.

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The opinion of this move is predicated on Wenger signing another striker for Arsenal. He admitted himself that Asano is a future prospect. But right now, that means nothing. Arsenal need something now and he has to realize that.