Image Credit: Getty Images
Japan produced an outstanding performance on Saturday to beat Germany for the second time this calendar year. Arsenal star, Takehiro Tomiyasu impressed in defence, and his teammate Takefusa Kubo also caught the eye of many Arsenal fans, despite only being on the pitch for the last 15 minutes.
Takefusa Kubo, commonly known as Take Kubo, is a Japanese right winger who plays in Spain for Real Sociedad. Former Arsenal left-back, Kieran Tierney moved to Sociedad last week with the Scotsman coming up in conversation between international teammates Kubo and Tomiyasu.
During the international break, Tomiyasu asked Kubo: “You live close to Tierney, don’t you?” The attacker responded with “Yeah, Tierney lives along the same street as my house”, something which Tomiyasu already knew from talking to his Emirates colleague. Kubo added: “KT is really nice guy. And English he speaks is easy for me to understand.”
Takefusa Kubo joined Real Socieded in the summer of 2022 from Real Madrid for a fee of around £6million. The 22-year-old’s transfer value is now already at £25million inside just one year of regular first-team football. During the 2022/23 campaign, the Japan international scored nine goals and recorded seven assists in La Liga and he’s started this season off just as strong, with three goals and one assist in just four games so far this campaign.
🇯🇵 Takefusa Kubo (22) this season:
‣ 4 games in La Liga 🏟️
‣ 3 goals, 1 assist ⚽️
‣ 4 MOTMs in all four matches 🥇🎯 2 assists in Japan’s 4-1 recent win over Germany
𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 form. 📈 pic.twitter.com/1pQbhFdxc9
— PurelyFootball ℗ (@PurelyFootball) September 10, 2023
Before making it at Real Sociedad he spent time with FC Tokyo in Japan before moving to Real Madrid in 2019, however he failed to make a single appearance at Los Blancos, after being loaned out a number of times during his three year spell at the club. But now it appears the Japanese right-winger has found his feet in Spain after his sparkling form for both club and country over the last year.
READ MORE: Arsenal rejected £170million offer for star player last month.
The Japanese forward analysed why he has been playing so well since joining Real Sociedad: “I am putting up very good numbers. Coming from where I was in other seasons, where I wasn’t doing so well, things are going much better this year, which I am happy about.
“One of the reasons for this is the collective game of La Real. It is very attractive for the fans and very effective for the players. I can’t remember any game where I haven’t had an opportunity, and I’m taking advantage of the ones that have come my way.”
Arsenal are on the lookout for a back-up option to Bukayo Saka and Takefusa Kubo seems to be the perfect player. However the Gunners will face competition for his signature with Real Madrid also interested in re-signing the Japanese international after his great form for Real Soceidad last season.
Hopefully Takehiro Tomiyasu at international level, and Kieran Tierney at club level, can have a word with Kubo to convince him Arsenal would be a great next step for his career. Although I’m sure he wouldn’t need much convincing…
NEXT ARTICLE: Declan Rice reveals the prank Mikel Arteta played on him when he first signed.
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