Arsenal agree to terminate star's contract despite Arteta's 'incredible' claim

Arsenal were without Takehiro Tomiyasu for the overwhelming majority of last season due to him suffering two separate knee injuries and now the defender has agreed to leave

Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu will leave the club after an agreement was reached to terminate his contract. Tomiyasu, 26, played just six minutes of football last season following knee surgery in 2023.

The defender is expected to be ruled out for five more months after undergoing another operation in February. Tomiyasu's current deal is due to expire at the end of next season but he'll depart the Emirates a year early.

BBC Sport report that Arsenal and Tomiyasu have reached an agreement to end his contract with immediate effect. The Japan international joined Arsenal from Italian side Bologna in 2021 for £16million plus potential add-ons after snubbing rivals Tottenham.

Tomiyasu will be among a number of defenders to leave the Gunners this summer. Kieran Tierney has already joined Celtic on a free transfer while Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior have both been linked with moves to AC Milan.

Mikel Arteta wants to have new options in defence, with Valencia centre-back Cristhian Mosquera recently emerging as a top target. Arsenal had an undisclosed bid reportedly worth £17.3m rejected by the Spanish side last week.

Tomiyasu's versatility made him an asset for Arteta, who likes defenders who can play both centrally and out wide. The Japanese played the majority of his football at Arsenal as a right-back.

But he never made more than 31 appearances in any of his four seasons with the north Londoners, as he struggled to stay injury free. This term, Tomiyasu only played six minutes when Arsenal faced Southampton at home in October 2024.

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In February, following his latest round of surgery, Arteta opened up on the former Bologna star's 'very lonely process' of recovering. The Arsenal manager epxlained: "He's been trying everything that he possibly could to try to avoid it [a second surgery], we did that [decision] with the department but at some stage the knee wasn't reacting as good and as rapidly as we needed it to and, between all parties, we decided the best thing to do was to to have that surgery again.

"Unfortunately it's going to keep him out for a long period again and it's very sad because he's a player that lives for the game he is really, really keen to play and be consistent. When he's at at his level he's an incredible player for us."