Arsenal legend Ian Wright has called for Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol to apologise for his comments over the Gunners’ Japanese defender Takehiro Tomiyasu. The 23-year-old joined the club on transfer deadline day in a £17m move from Italian side Bologna.
So far he has impressed in an Arsenal shirt, forming a key part of Mikel Arteta’s side and putting in a number of brilliant performances to help his side.
Tomiyasu was excellent once again in the right-back position during the 4-1 victory over Leeds on Saturday – a result which puts the Gunners four points clear of West Ham in fourth place in the Premier League.
Although he now appears a shrewd signing, not everybody was convinced he would end up being a good bit of business for the north Londoners.
Speaking just after the deal had been confirmed, Solhekol shared a message he had received from an agent live on air which may have worried Arsenal fans.
Solkehol shared: “I’ve just got a message to say: ‘Tomiyasu was offered to most clubs in the Premier League. He’s a good player but the problem is that he’s not really a right-back, nor is he a central defender. I’m not sure how he will get on at Arsenal.'”
Solkehol and his co-presenters then started laughing, before he added somewhat cynically: “This is a player who was trying to be placed at a Premier League club and he’s got his move to Arsenal.”
So far, however, Tomiyasu has proved his doubters wrong, and that £17m fee is looking like money very well spent.
And he clearly has a fan in Wright, who tweeted a clip of the Sky Sports News report along with the caption: “Apologies as loud as the disrespect please!!!! @SkyKaveh.”
Arsenal have bounced back from two consecutive defeats against Manchester United and Everton to record three successive wins against Southampton, West Ham and Leeds.
And they will go into the Christmas period full of confidence and with the hope of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign.
Speaking after the win at Elland Road Arteta said: “I was really pleased. They understood exactly how we have to attack the space we have to use. The execution, the dynamism, the progression, the threat we generated – it was really good.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t score more. I think we had some big big chances but that’s what I like, the way we played, we came here and we imposed ourselves and we really wanted to play.
“That’s something we have to improve on because in the second half when the game is there, we didn’t do it as well and with the consistency that we need [to for] where we have to get to.
“You look at the games that they’ve played, obviously the last game at the Eithad was a different story but when they went to Stamford Bridge they gave Chelsea a real game and today I wasn’t expecting any different because every game they play, they play the same way.”
Arsenal are next in action on Tuesday with a Carabao Cup quarter-final against League One side Sunderland.
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