By Alex Forbes
On Sunday Arsenal confirmed that a deal, in principle, had been reached to sign Japanese 21-year-old Asano. Arsene Wenger described him as a "talented young striker." But what does he have to offer and what can we expect of Asano?
Asano's play style sees him regularly on the defence's last man looking to get behind and utilise his rapid pace. His low centre of gravity, explosive speed and ability to finish with both feet lead to him scoring 15 goals domestically and internationally throughout the 2015/16 season.
Although Asano evidently likes to be at the end of the attacking move. He's demonstrated with his 8 assists last season that he's capable of creating chances for others as well. Notably his assists have often come from smart intricate flicks used to out fox the defenders.
Despite being just over 5ft 6", Asano has an impressive jumping reach that allows him to be a threat arriving late in the box. However, I wouldn't characterise an aerial threat to be one of his main assets.
At just 21, Asano is still young and has time to Improve his game. It's widely expected that he'll be loaned out to help his development, Wenger even stated "[he's] very much one for the future." To make it in an extremely competitive league as the premiership and at one of the best teams in Europe, he will need to improve his concentration. Whilst playing off the last man, it's expected that you will be offside, however the frequency of such needs to be cut down.
Furthermore, he'll have to move away from being a team's main man. Previously he constantly received most of the ball and was, almost, solely relied on for goals. In a team like Arsenal, he'll need to embrace the consistent quality and become more of a team player to become more effective.
As mentioned, he's a small, agile player - much like Wellington Silva. He will require intensive work on his core strength to get him up to the physical demands of the Premier League.
