Takehiro Tomiyasu can emulate £8m Arsenal star

Aaron Ramsdale knee sliding across the Emirates turf to celebrate Alexandre Lacazette scoring the opener for Arsenal against Southampton is box office stuff. Even if he goes the entire 90 minutes without touching the ball, you know he’s there.

Less so Takehiro Tomiyasu, who is steadily making his way to becoming one of the smartest signings this club has made for many years.

Another game, another brilliantly consistent Premier League performance. The right-back who isn’t a right-back is doing a magnificent job of being a right-back.

The right side of this team is incredibly particular. Mikel Arteta sets his sides up in such an asymmetrical way that the roles for either flank do not mirror one another in the slightest: Bukayo Saka generally holds the advanced positions on his own, with Tomiyasu a key component in defensive transitions and for building triangles from deep.

Takehiro Tomiyasu bears resemblance to former Arsenal right-back Bacary Sagna after another excellent performance against Southampton

Arsenal couldn’t have gone out and signed a traditional full-back. They had to fulfill a unique remit. Not only have they found the suitable profile for this team, they’ve found the best suitable profile for this team that they could.

Tomiyasu is terrific.

For a 23-year-old coming from Serie A to have maintained such a high level of performance like he has is remarkable. Across his 13 games for Arsenal he’s had just one or two poor halves. That’s it.

Starting off more reserved as a third centre-back, there has been more adventure from him of late, particularly at home against weaker opposition, where he’s showcasing every facet of his game in endearingly equal measures. An absolute monster in the air, against the Saints he showed his ability to one-touch pass and make underlapping runs into the box and get involved in the play high up the pitch.

His best notes do come in his own half where he positions his body expertly to manage one-on-ones, forces his man into the least threatening zones and tackles with astuteness. Doing his business so cleanly, it often goes unnoticed.

And it’s hard not to see similarities with Bacary Sagna: dependable, defensively sound and technically competent. Tomiyasu isn’t frilly and won’t try to nutmeg his man or got for a hero pass, he understands the value of simplicity under pressure. Tomiyasu can more than match the Mr. Reliable career that the Frenchman had.

Sagna was never a holstered weapon ready to unload in the final third, but he won near enough all his duels, was strong as an ox and surprisingly nimble on the ball. While Tomiyasu may have cost double him, that £16m is looking like an absolute steal.

What a fantastic pick-up he was. We tip our hats to Calum Chambers for being so dreadful away at Manchester City that the club was forced into action.

For someone one journalist (who will go unnamed) said was ‘offered across Europe with nobody interested‘, he’s doing a darn fine job of piquing our interest. What an absolute gem of a signing.