Arsenal Part Ways with Fan-Favourite Tomiyasu
Versatility that Made Tomiyasu Indispensable
For all Arsenal's elegant passing sequences and Arteta's carefully choreographed structure, Takehiro Tomiyasu was the reliable undertone — the functional thread in an increasingly complex tapestry. A player who never sought headlines, yet whose quiet excellence once drew lofty praise. 'We don't have a player like him,' Mikel Arteta said in 2023, and that wasn't hyperbole. Tomiyasu could plug any defensive hole — right-back, left-back, centre-half — and do so without fuss.
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His ability to adapt made him invaluable. That same September, he was named Arsenal's Player of the Month and scored his first goal for the club — one he dedicated to his late mother. It felt like the start of something, not the highlight reel's lone bright spot.
Promise Unfulfilled by Persistent Injury
But the cruel irony of football is that consistency isn't only tactical — it's physical. Tomiyasu's body simply wouldn't comply. Since Arteta's glowing remarks, he started only 14 more games. Arsenal confirmed this week that the club and the Japan international have mutually agreed to part ways, a year before his contract was due to expire.
Injuries were a relentless adversary. According to Transfermarkt, Tomiyasu spent 690 days sidelined while at Arsenal, missing over 100 games. Those absences didn't just rob him of minutes — they denied Arteta his Swiss Army knife in moments of need.
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One of those came in March 2023, when Arsenal's title challenge began to unravel. Tomiyasu suffered a knee injury against Sporting Lisbon, just as William Saliba also limped off. With both defenders absent, Arsenal's back line faltered, and so did their pursuit of the Premier League crown.
Final Season Defined by Frustration
The 2023-24 campaign offered no redemption arc. A calf injury, disrupted by the Asia Cup, forced him out of 13 games. A knee injury in pre-season wiped out his US tour. When he finally returned, it lasted just six minutes — a short-lived cameo against Southampton that ended in yet another setback.
By February, the decision was made for surgery. He hasn't played since.
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'He knows hopefully that we are all here, we have all been trying to help him,' said Arteta. 'But it's tough… it's a very lonely process.'
Photo: IMAGO
Tomiyasu's dedication to recovery was unwavering, even if fate seemed uninterested in rewarding it. Some of his rehabilitation took place away from the club — a change of scene, an attempt to reclaim hope.
A Career Chapter Closed, but Not the Story
Across 84 appearances in four years, Tomiyasu left an imprint not measured in goals or assists, but in structure, stability, and humility. He remains, in Arteta's words, 'probably one of the best [defenders] that I've seen in many situations.'
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His Arsenal story ends not in triumph, but in quiet recognition — of a player who gave everything, even when his body refused to follow. There will be no fanfare, no final lap of honour. Just a poignant reminder that sometimes, football's most dependable servants slip away with little more than a nod.
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