Mikel Arteta is keen to secure the long-term future of Takehiro Tomiyasu (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal are confident of reaching an agreement with Takehiro Tomiyasu over a new contract.
The Japan international has 18 months remaining on his current deal and although Arsenal retain the option to extend for a further year, Mikel Arteta is keen to secure the long-term future of a player currently enjoying his best run of form in a red and white shirt.
Tomiyasu’s versatility and represented a major asset for Arteta this season given the spate of injuries he has been forced to contend with.
Bayern Munich, whose manager Thomas Tuchel is understood to be a keen admirer of Tomiyasu’s, are monitoring the 25-year-old’s situation but he is, according to The Athletic, keen to commit his future to the Gunners.
The former Bologna defender produced another excellent display in last night’s 6-0 win over Lens, creating goals for Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard.
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Tomiyasu was withdrawn at half-time but Arteta confirmed afterwards that his substitution was not injury enforced.
‘I think he was excellent, he has played a lot of minutes, and we have a really congested period,’ said the Arsenal manager.
‘We are very short at the back at the moment and we had to use the score to make some changes and give some rest and minutes to other players.’
After a hard-fought win over Brentford last weekend, meanwhile, Arteta was delighted his side were able to showcase the more aesthetically pleasing aspects of their football, with his front five all finding themselves on the scoresheet.
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‘I didn’t even dream like this, but we had the chance to qualify today and become top of the group and we’ve done it in a really convincing way against a really good side,’ said the Arsenal manager.
‘I think the team right from the beginning showed a lot of aggression and determination to go for the game, everything happened in the right way especially in the first 30 minutes and that was really helpful to win the game.
‘It’s a great that we are able to win in this way, but I think consistently we have shown at home not to concede any goals, and score a lot of goals, that’s a really positive factor.
‘Those players need to have those experiences, and believe that we can do it against big opponents, now let’s wait, we have to park it and in February we will know who we are facing and let’s see how we are in that moment.’
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