Arsenal announced the signing of Japanese right-back Takhiro Tomiyasu from Bolonga on a £19.8m deal on deadline day.
This signing came as a huge relief for Arsenal as it looked like they were heading into the season without a signing a new right-back despite making this position a priority.
North London rivals, Spurs also signed a full-back on deadline day as Emerson Royal joined the club from Barcelona. This left Arsenal fans with a sense of jealously after it had emerged that the Brazilian was a target for the Gunners.
Despite the fans disappointment at not the signing the former Barcelona man, Tomiyasu has the credentials behind him that prove he could well be the better signing.
Tomiyasu has played in the Serie A for the last two seasons featuring 62 times in the process. The last campaign was where he had the most success as he tackled 56% of his opponents who tried to dribble past him and was only dribbled past 30 times.
This is better in comparison to Emerson Royal who spent last season on loan at Real Betis playing in La Liga. He tackled 52% of opponents who tried to dribble past him but he was dribbled past 39 times.
This is carried on by the fact that Tomisayu shows more determination to win the ball back as last season the Japanese was successful with his pressure 35% of the time compared to Emerson Royal who achieved 30% last season.
This could be very useful for Arteta because in multiple games this season, he has opted a high-line of defence and it is crucial for the team to win the possession of the ball in a short period of time and having Tomiyasu’s energy in defending will be of benefit.
His defensive knack is further shown with the amount of clearances he attempted last season. The 22-year old cleared the ball 145 times whilst, Emerson Royal managed this 116 times. This highlights the defensive awareness of Tomiyasu and why he would be a better option than Emerson Royale when it comes to defending.
However, Emerson is the better tackler than Tomiyasu as the Brazilian tackled 96 players compared to the former Bologna defender who tackled 43 players last season.
The fact that Tomiyasu has featured at centre-back for Bologna and is just as comfortable in this position as he is in right-back highlights that he will certainly be more defensively solid than Emerson Royal.
Against smaller teams Arteta likes to play a possession-based system and this may well suit Tomiyasu rather than Emerson Royal as last season the Japanese international had a higher pass completion rate at 83% whilst the Brazilian had 81%.
This relates into Tomiyasu also having the advantage whilst having to beat the press as we have seen early into this season Arsenal have fallen victims to teams playing a high-press system.
The Japanese international may be better equipped for this than Emerson Royal as Tomiyasu had a 64% successful dribble rate compared to Emerson Royal’s 42%. This is also certified by the fact that the new Arsenal right-back is a better ball carrier as he travelled 7348 yards whilst in possession of the ball last season compared to Emerson Royal who travelled 6329 yards.
Despite this, Emerson Royal is certainly more efficient on the attack as he contributed to five goals last season with four of those being assists whilst Tomiyasu only contributed with two goals without providing an assist in the league season.
Emerson Royal’s attacking stats are more fruitful than Tomiyasu likely due to the comfortability going forward, as the Brazilian attempted 74 crosses last season, compared to the Japanese who attempted 23.
It is clear that Takehiro Tomiyasu is certainly better defensively, whilst the former Barcelona defender is better in the attack.
However with Arteta’s troubles defensively which has seen the Gunners have the lowest goal difference in the league, Tomiyasu has justified why he is the better signing for Arsenal.
