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When Arsenal signed Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna there was little hype around the player, and considering how little was known about the Japanese international this was hardly surprising. However, he quickly became a fan favourite thanks to his hard work and consistency.

This summer, Arsenal are again in the market for a versatile defender who can play both at centre-half and full-back. The club have had a €30million (£25.8million) bid rejected for Lisandro Martinez according to The Athletic, but they are expected to return with Mikel Arteta making the Argentine a priority this summer.

Tomiyasu has told Arteta with plenty of his performances this season why the Ajax star would be perfect for the club. Arsenal lost out in the race for the top four and Tomiyasu’s absence for much of the season was a direct contributing factor.

Had the then-22-year-old been fit for more of the campaign, perhaps the outcome would have been different. In his stead, Cedric Soares played and while Kieran Tierney was available, the Portuguese managed to stem much of the loss of Tomiyasu, with Mikel Arteta’s tactical shift of Tierney to become the more disciplined of the pair helping to solve the problem.

However, when he too fell to injury ahead of the run-in, Nuno Tavares and Cedric were