Samurai Steel
Capable of playing at full-back or centre-back, experienced Japan international Takehiro Tomiyasu previously spent four years in the Premier League with Arsenal.
17TakehiroTomiyasu
Def
Defender
Date of Birth
05.11.9805 November 1998
Country
JPJapanJoined Team
06.08.2606 August 2026
All time
Tomiyasu was born on 5th November 1998, in the Japanese city of Fukuoka – the largest city on Japan’s southern-most main island, Kyushu.
His sisters chose swimming as their hobby, yet the young Tomiyasu opted for football. He started playing at local club Sanchiku Kickers.
He then moved to Avispa Fukuoka, transitioning from a midfielder to a defender in their academy and made his eventual professional debut. Tomiyasu made his debut in 2015, just under a month before his 17th birthday, playing in a cup match against Machida Zelvia.
After spending one-and-a-half years with Sint-Truidense in the Belgian league, Tomiyasu moved to Serie A with Bologna – having impressed them after winning his club’s Player of the Year title while in Belgium.
Signing prior to the 2019/20 season, Tomiyasu would make 64 appearances and score three goals over a two-year stint in Italy.
The data from this period in his career demonstrates he was a defender with potential. Across the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons, Tomiyasu won 325 duels, 149 aerial duels and completed 55 successful tackles.
Tomiyasu signed for Arsenal ahead of the 2021/22 season, as Mikel Arteta looked to take them back to Champions League qualification.
As he first stated to the Gunners’ website when joining, it was a “dream” to play in the Premier League. He made his debut in a narrow 1-0 win over Norwich City in September – Arsenal’s first win of that particular season.
In total, he would appear 21 times in his first Premier League season, although the Gunners narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Champions League.
Although injury impacted his final season in North London, he departed in 2025 with a record 84 appearances across four seasons.
Tomiyasu has made 46 caps to date and has represented Samurai Blue at two World Cups and multiple international tournaments.
He helped his country to a fourth place finish at the 2020 Olympic Games – held a year later due to the pandemic – at home in Tokyo, playing in the Bronze Medal match against Mexico.
Most notably, at both the 2022 and 2026 World Cup Finals, Tomiyasu was part of the Japan squad.
In Qatar, he helped the squad qualify from a tough-looking group that also featured Spain and Germany. They were ultimately undone in the Round of 16 by Croatia on penalties.
Then in North America this summer, alongside new club teammate Daichi Kamada, Tomiyasu featured in three of Japan’s four games as the Samurai Blue once again reached the knockout stage – before they were edged out by Brazil in Houston.
