The 21 year old signed for the Gunners in July for a fee in the region of £5m, but because he lacks the necessary international caps he doesn’t qualify for a visa to play in England.
Asano scored four goals in 14 J-League outings last term before bagging two goals in three games at this summer’s Olympics.
He won two league titles in Japan as well as being crowned as the 2015 ‘Rookie of the Year’. Nicknamed ‘The Jaguar’, he celebrates like the feline creature itself.
Stuttgart are part of Germany’s second division and will be hopefully be able to provide the youngster with a fantastic experience considering he’s only ever played for the Japan international squad and his former club, Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
A statement on Arsenal’s website read:
We would like to wish Takuma well for his season in Stuttgart.
The deal is subject to the completion of regulatory processes.
While Takuma Asano told Stuttgart’s official website that,
I am very happy to be here,
I look forward to the time in Stuttgart and want to do my part to ensure that the club achieves its goals.
Transfer perfekt! Takuma #Asano kommt auf Leihbasis von @Arsenal zum #VfB Stuttgart. pic.twitter.com/fROtk840w7
— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) August 26, 2016
Arsene Wenger described him as “a talented young striker and very much one for the future”.
We will be hoping his season in Germany will be enough for him to begin his North London adventure next season. He’ll get ample playing opportunities and he may even get them back to Bundesliga.
He’ll be playing alongside Simon Terodde who scored 28 in 37 appearances last season. Stuttgart will be fighting for promotion the entire season, so they will be expecting a lot out of him. Seems a positive move to me considering he’s coming from the J-League and with recommendation from Arsene Wenger.
These immigration laws of Germany may give them a slight upper hand with England leaving European Union.
Let’s see how all this plays and good luck to Asano. It’ll be interesting to see how he gets on there.
