Arsenal are currently working on a deal to sign Tottenham target Takehiro Tamiyasu according to The Athletic, with the clubs agreeing on a £17m deal.
Tottenham enquired to sign the Japanese international earlier in the transfer window but didn’t advance with the move.
Arteta is said to be a long-time admirer of the defender who can play as right-back and a centre-back in a back three.
Completing this deal on deadline day will give Arsenal fans a sense of revenge after already losing out on to Emerson Royal to their north London rivals.
football.london first revealed back in May that the Gunners wanted to sign a right-back this summer but only if they could offload one of the full-backs from the squad.
With it seeming likely that Hector Bellerin is leaving the club before the deadline after heavily links to Real Betis, this has opened the door to replace him.
Tottenham pushed through into advanced negotiations to sign Emerson Royal on Monday evening after it was believed that the Gunners had offered a cash-plus Bellerin deal in the hopes of stealing him under the noses of their rivals.
However, Arsenal have turned their intentions in signing Tomiyasu. With over 50 Serie A appearances under his belt, he bodes to be a shrewd deadline day signing for the Gunners.
He provided three assists and scored one goal during his debut Serie A season in 2019/2020, which was more goals than any Arsenal right-back contributed to in the same season.
The Bologna defender has also made 23 appearances for Japan since his debut in 2018.
Despite losing out to Emerson Royal, the signing of Tomiyasu still plays into Arsenal’s transfer approach when it comes to signing young players. The Japanese international would be the sixth signing to be under the age of 25.
With Arsenal’s defensive troubles at the start of the season which sees them on a minus nine goal-difference in the opening three games of the Premier League, Tomiyasu is certainly better defensively than Emerson Royal.
The Japanese defender has also featured at centre-back for his club and last season was dribbled passed an opponent 0.4 times on average per game whilst Emerson Royal was dribbled past on average once per game.
If Arsenal are to complete the signing of Takehiro Tomiyasu it would certainly strengthen their defensive ranks.
