Takehiro Tomiyasu
Takehiro Tomiyasu has had knee surgery (
Image: Instagram/@tomiyasu.t)
12:34, 19 Feb 2025
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Takehiro Tomiyasu may not be back until the end of the calendar year after his knee injury was worse than first feared.
Arsenal defender Tomiyasu, 26, has undergone surgery on a knee injury first suffered in pre-season which has limited him to just six minutes of football in this campaign. Japan international Tomiyasu is definitely out for the rest of this campaign but will also miss pre-season, the start of next season and is now battling to play by next autumn.
Arsenal confirmed in a club statement: “Takehiro Tomiyasu has undergone a successful surgery on the right knee issue which he first sustained in pre-season.
“Despite an initial surgical procedure in August, followed by a return to full training, and featuring as a substitute in our home Premier League match against Southampton in October, Tomi continued to have issues with his knee, resulting in a further corrective surgical procedure.
"Tomi will now begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme, which is expected to be completed towards the end of this year. “
Tomiyasu suffered the injury in the United States in pre-season but came back as a late substitute against Southampton but the issue flared up again and the latest setback meant the only long term solution was surgery. It is a huge blow for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta because versatile Tomiyasu can play across all four positions in the defence.
Tomiyasu has described it as the hardest time of his career and thanked the fans for their support in an emotional post on social media. Tomiyasu said: “I’ve had a surgery on my knee a few days ago and I’ve already started my rehab to do what I love the most again. It has been the toughest period in my career for sure and it carries on a bit more but I won’t give up. Thank you for your support and see you again.”
Mikel Arteta will be without Takehiro Tomiyasu until late 2025
Arsenal already have a growing injury list with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz out with Gabriel Jesus another player who will miss a big chunk of next season after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury last month.
It also means that Arsenal will have to factor Jesus and Tomiyasu into this summer’s squad rebuild because they are big earners but will miss the start of next season. Arsenal have posted their latest accounts which reveal that, despite making record revenues of £617m in the 2023/24 season, they still made a loss of £18m.
That played into their reason why they were restricted last summer on transfer business and spent £75m on Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino – a net spend of £21m – but the outlay was nowhere near the huge £156m net spend outlay in 2023.
They are expecting a bigger window this summer with Martin Zubimendi expected to arrive from Real Sociedad and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko is their No1 target to be their next centre forward. But the club – which also posted a huge wage bill increase from £235m to £328m in the accounts – are almost certain to have to offload players to balance the books.
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