Some Tottenham fans were left extremely impressed by Takehiro Tomiyasu’s performance for Japan as they beat France 4-0 in the Olympics on Thursday.
Tomiyasu was thought to be close to completing a move to Tottenham a couple of weeks ago with the speculation having cooled somewhat.
Fabio Paratici is seemingly prioritising a deal for Atalanta centre-back Cristian Romero, with the Tottenham managing director still locked in talks with the Bergamo club.
However, Spurs’ pursuit of the Argentine is thought to be independent of their interest in Tomiyasu, who the North Londoners allegedly view as a right-back option rather than as a central defender.
The 22-year-old recovered from an ankle injury to start for Japan and played a key part in their demolition of France.
Some Spurs fans were left pleasantly surprised by how composed the Bologna star looked at centre-back, with many urging the Lilywhites to snap him up.
Japan return to action tomorrow when they face New Zealand in the quarter-final.
https://twitter.com/Jason4COYS/status/1420502962883993600
Just finished watching Japan demolition job over France in the Olympics. Tomiyasu looks fit. Looks very comfy on the ball and well positioned throughout the game. He's playing as a cb on the left.
— LX (@THFC_LX) July 28, 2021
This is what I was talking about 🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/jRxU9rv8Kh
— Sambhav Sawant (@SS16THFC) July 28, 2021
Thought Tomiyasu was solid tonight – one rash challenge got him a yellow but his distribution off both feet was great and positioning very strong. He can bring the ball out almost solely on his left foot as an LCB which is pretty phenomenal for a right-footed defender
— daniel wickford (@DanielWickford) July 28, 2021
Tomiyasu is great at CB
— Elsa 🇨🇵 (@elsathfc7) July 28, 2021
Tomiyasu >kounde
— harry (@harry_lysn) July 28, 2021
Tomiyasu is PERFECT‼️‼️‼️
He will bring something big to us‼️
Contract him‼️
— AK🇩🇰 (@Eriksen_Goat) July 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/M4again/status/1420370271991652352
https://twitter.com/vade0296/status/1420750048451727370
Not sure I've ever seen Tomiyasu play LCB before. Very much caveated by the fact that Japan look to build from midfield, but:
– Tomiyasu is very clever in his foot usage. Left foot to open the channel, or right foot to pass inside
– But could take a lot more responsibility in— SHARKY (@Belgian_Hotspur) July 28, 2021
Spurs Web Opinion
Now that Tomiyasu’s ankle injury has not turned out to be serious, one would think that negotiations between Tottenham and Bologna would progress quickly.
However, the North Londoners might decide to hold off talks until the end of the Olympics just to make sure the 22-year-old comes out of the tournament unscathed.