Arsenal have bought the defender Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna for €18m (£15.5m) and allowed their long-serving right-back Héctor Bellerín to join Real Betis on a season’s loan.
Takehiro, a 22-year-old who can play at right-back or centre-back, has been with Bologna since joining from the Belgian club Sint-Truiden in 2019 and has 23 Japan caps.
“Takehiro is a strong defender with good experience in Serie A and at international level,” Mikel Arteta said. “He’s a versatile defender with great defensive qualities, high technical ability and composure on the ball.”
Tomiyasu is the third defender to join Arsenal this summer, after Ben White and Nuno Tavares, and continues the club’s policy of targeting young players with potential sell-on value. All six signings have been aged 23 or under. Arteta’s team have conceded nine goals in their opening three Premier League matches, all of which have ended in defeat.
Bellerín joined Arsenal 10 years ago, at the age of 16, and has made 239 appearances for the club. He has not played this season after falling out of favour and completed a move to Betis after issues relating to his salary were resolved.
Two other Arsenal players left on season’s loans on deadline day. The forward Reiss Nelson, whom the club will give a new contract to 2023, has moved to Feyenoord and the goalkeeper Alex Rúnarsson joined the Belgian club OH Leuven.
