£16m Arsenal player says he’s so happy after hearing what Mikel Arteta has just said about him

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Takehiro Tomiyasu was extremely happy to receive some praise from his Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta ahead of tonight’s game against Sevilla.

Tomiyasu was enjoying an interview with TNT Sports when the defender was told about Arteta’s praise.

The interviewer informed Tomiyasu of Arteta’s words detailing how loved the defender’s attitude is by everyone at Arsenal.

Moreover, the manager also praised the Japan international as a person, too.

Of course, Tomiyasu was overwhelmed by these compliments and described how proud he felt.

The interviewer said: “I just spoke to the manager and the thing he described you as is loved by the club, loved for your attitude, loves who you are as a person. 

“When you hear that, how does it make you feel?”

Tomiyasu said: “Makes me proud. I’m so happy to hear that.”

Of course, Tomiyasu has now become a fairly integral part of this Arsenal team.

Although it may have been a surprise before the season started, Tomiyasu is now playing as an inverted full-back on the left.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has fulfilled that role in recent memory, but there are now question marks over his defending.

Tomiyasu was delighted to receive praise from Arsenal boss Arteta

However, Tomiyasu’s introduction at left-back has coincided with Arsenal displaying a lack of creativity.

That’s not solely because of £16m Tomiyasu, but Arsenal do miss the play-making abilities of Zinchenko.

Perhaps a happy medium would now be to deploy the Ukrainian ahead of Tomiyasu on Arsenal’s left hand side.

And although he was missing for a lot of last season, Arsenal’s Japan international has now confirmed that he is feeling in much better condition after putting his injury nightmare behind him.

The choice that Arteta is now making between Tomiyasu and Zinchenko on the left for Arsenal is perhaps a situation he thought he had solved in the summer.

Jurrien Timber looked to be a perfect combination of both skill sets, allowing Arteta to invert on the left and right of defence.

And it shouldn’t be understated just how much he has been missed.

Nonetheless, Arsenal will be looking to improve on their recent form when hosting Sevilla this evening.

And they will likely have to do so without their captain Martin Odegaard.