Arsenal are set to loan Takuma Asano to Bundesliga club Hannover 96, after the Japanese International struggled to make an impact at fellow German club VfB Stuttgart.
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Standard Sport write that a move is now close, with Arsenal preparing to sanction a third loan in three years for the player. James Benge wrote on Twitter that the “deal could be confirmed soon”. To further add credence to the story, Hannover’s club president also spoke to the media about the temporary transfer.
“We will loan him for a year,” Martin Kind said. “The sporting hierarchy have positive judgements over him.”
Asano had a pretty terrible time with Stuttgart this year. After an encouraging first season, where he generally played well without scoring many goals, things just got worse in his second campaign.
The 23-year-old made 18 appearances for the first team in 2017/18, the last of which came in December 2017. He scored one goal and provided one assist in total, and only made the squad four times in 2018.
Dropping down to the Stuttgart second team, he scored once and assisted once in two appearances. It wasn’t enough to get him another first team opportunity though.
Given Asano’s performances at club level and the fact he isn’t getting international call ups anymore, there’s no way he’d get a work permit for Arsenal this year. A loan is the only option, other than selling, so at least they’ve found a club that wants him.
To check out our evaluation of all Arsenal’s loanees this season, click ‘Next’
Emi Martinez
- Position: Goalkeeper
- Loaned to: Getafe – La Liga (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 6
- Clean sheets: 2
As you can probably tell by the number of appearances, this season hasn’t been the best possible use of Martinez’s time. Although the 25-year-old generally does well when called upon, that hasn’t been very often at all. In fact, it took until January for him to get his first league minutes.
On the upside, at least he’s almost always been in the squad. That’s more than he would get at Arsenal this season.
Loan rating: 3/10
Stephy Mavididi
First loan:
- Position: Centre-forward
- Loaned to: Preston North End – Championship (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 11
Second loan:
- Position: Centre-forward/Winger
- Loaned to: Charlton Athletic – League One (winter transfer window)
- Appearances: 15
- Goals: 2
- Assists: 1
The first half of Mavididi’s season was a bit of a disaster. 11 appearances sounds like a fair amount of game-time, but he only made three league starts. The 19-year-old completed 90 minutes on one occasion in all competitions for Preston.
After that, he moved to Charlton in January, and performed much better. He scored in his first game returning to the club, and helped push them up into the play-off places.
Another hamstring injury slowed his progress down though, which is disappointing after the same thing happened last year. He finished the season strongly though, and earned praise from the fans.
First loan rating: 1/10
Second loan rating: 6/10
Marc Bola
- Position: Left-back
- Loaned to: Bristol Rovers – League One (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 23
- Assists: 1
Bola has never put together more than four league games in a row throughout the entire season, but nonetheless he has had a fair amount of game time overall. 20 starts in all competitions is more than most Arsenal loanees have managed.
The 20-year-old is starting to reach the stage where he needs to make a decision on his future, whether that’s at Arsenal or somewhere else. This loan spell at least shows he’s capable of playing in the men’s game though, so that’s a good sign.
Loan rating: 6/10
Lucas Perez
- Position: Centre-forward
- Loaned to: Deportivo La Coruna – La Liga (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 36
- Goals: 8
- Assists: 8
This really hasn’t been the return to Deportivo Perez wanted. At one point he went almost five months without a goal in all competitions as they slipped down into the relegation zone.
He helped them in a late revival, with three assists and three goals in his last nine games. They closed the gap on the teams above, but still ended up going down. After their relegation, I can’t see Perez making the move permanent.
Unfortunately he’s now worth less than he was last summer, and Arsenal couldn’t even offload him then. At least he played regularly throughout the year without injuries.
Loan rating: 4.5/10
Joel Campbell
- Position: Winger
- Loaned to: Real Betis – La Liga (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 8
- Goals: 1
- Assists: 1
It’s another season plagued by injuries and struggles to break into the team for poor Joel. At first he was out with a knee injury, but returned in October in spectacular fashion, scoring and assisting in his first 13 minutes on the pitch.
Then, before even completing 90 combined minutes of league football, he sprained his ankle. Finally he came back to training in March, and he’s made a couple of brief substitute appearances since then, but Getafe are obviously wary of over-exerting him too soon.
Thankfully for the player himself, he at least stayed fit for the final months of the season and made it into Costa Rica’s World Cup squad.
Loan rating: 2/10
Jeff Reine-Adelaide
- Position: Winger/Attacking midfielder
- Loaned to: Angers – Ligue 1 (winter transfer window)
- Appearances: 9
It’s nice to see Jeff playing senior football again, since he hasn’t had much luck with Arsenal.
Mostly the problem is his fitness, and that wasn’t really any different in France. Although he made nine appearances, none of them were the full 90 minutes. He only played one of the final four games of the season after a knock to his ankle.
Still, overall it was a decent short loan spell, and should prepare him well for pre-season with the Arsenal first-team.
Loan rating: 6/10
Ben Sheaf
- Position: Defensive midfielder
- Loaned to: Stevenage – League Two (winter transfer window)
- Appearances: 10
Sheaf’s loan spell started out with an injury, which is never the best way to get going. After that though, he made regular starts, completed 90 minutes on six occasions, and seemed pleased with how things went.
As with so many of this list of loanees, Sheaf was having some fitness troubles before he was sent out. The main aim was really just for him to get playing, and that’s what he did in the end.
From the looks of things Sheaf will return with renewed confidence and experience, so this is one of the good news stories overall.
Loan rating: 7/10
Krystian Bielik
- Position: Centre-back
- Loaned to: Walsall FC – League One (winter transfer window)
- Appearances: 0
Krystian Bielik’s loan may as well have not taken place. The Polish centre-back was injured the entire time, and didn’t play a single minute. After his promising temporary switch to Birmingham last season, it’s really disappointing he hasn’t made any senior appearances for anyone in 2017/18.
Loan rating: 0/10
Chuba Akpom
- Position: Centre-forward
- Loaned to: Sint-Truiden – Juliper League (winter transfer window)
- Appearances: 15
- Goals: 6
- Assists: 1
It was really important for Akpom, now 22, that he got a loan somewhere and pushed on. His last loan spell to Brighton was disappointing, and he wasn’t any better in the Arsenal first-team this season.
At first his Sint-Truiden spell started a bit slowly, and it looked like more of the same. But the longer it went on, the better Akpom played. Now he has six goal contributions in his last eight games, helping his team to a number of wins.
For the first time at senior level he looks comfortable and confident, and there’s even talk of him maybe getting another chance with Arsenal.
It might not happen, but even so he’s increased his market value, particularly in Belgium. Given where he started the year, we couldn’t ask for much more.
Loan rating: 7.5/10
Takuma Asano
- Position: Centre-forward/Winger
- Loaned to: VfB Stuttgart – Bundesliga (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 18
- Goals: 1
- Assists: 1
Things started pretty well for Asano, as he made regular appearances for the team. He struggled to get on the score-sheet though, and only managed to finally do so in late November.
A few games after that first goal the manager dropped him, and never brought him back into the frame. For a while he struggled to even get into the squad, let alone the starting eleven.
Then the 23-year-old’s first-team chances ended entirely, and he finished the campaign playing for the Stuttgart youth team. He scored one goal and one assist in two matches with the young side.
Loan rating: 2/10
Carl Jenkinson
- Position: Right-back
- Loaned to: Birmingham City – Championship (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 9
32 minutes into his debut for Birmingham, Jenkinson injured his shoulder, and didn’t return until mid-January. After that he got a run in the team, and they lost every single game. He did manage one draw in the FA Cup, but then they lost in the replay.
Unsurprisingly, the City manager decided to try something else, and Jenkinson didn’t make the squad for the final months.
Loan rating: 1/10
Cohen Bramall
- Position: Left-back
- Loaned to: Birmingham City – Championship (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 8
Bramall had a very similar season to Jenkinson. The only difference is he doesn’t have the excuse of suffering an injury. Also, at least one of his eight matches was a win, 3-1 against Sheffield Wednesday. Other than that he took part in six defeats and the same FA Cup draw as Jenkinson. His last match was in February.
Loan rating: 1/10
Tafari Moore
- Position: Right-back
- Loaned to: Wycombe Wanderers – League Two (winter transfer window)
- Appearances: 13
Moore made a great start with Wycombe, almost scoring one of the goals of the season and performing impressively. He remained in the team almost every game until April, when he picked up a knock. He missed the final games of the season with injury.
The 20-year-old is one of very few Arsenal loanees to hold down a spot the entire time he was fit, and he did enough to help Wycombe into the playoff places, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion. A very successful short loan spell.
Loan rating: 8/10
Julio Pleguezuelo
- Position: Centre-back
- Loaned to: Gimnastic – La Liga 2 (winter transfer window)
- Appearances: 7
It feels like this is true for almost every loanee, but Pleguezuelo also put a run of games together before suffering an injury. Gimnastic certainly had a better defensive record with him in the team than in the rest of the season though, so that’s a positive.
There are still a few games remaining in the Segunda Division, so hopefully he can return before the end of the season and help them avoid relegation.
Loan rating: 6/10
Kelechi Nwakali
First loan:
- Position: Winger/Attacking-midfielder
- Loaned to: VVV-Venlo – Eredivisie (summer transfer window)
- Appearances: 12
- Goals: 1
Second loan:
- Position: Attacking-midfielder
- Loaned to: MVV Maastricht – Eerste Divisie (winter transfer window)
- Appearances: 18
- Goals: 4
- Assists: 1
Like Stephy Mavididi, Nwakali had a very disappointing first loan spell. You wouldn’t have thought it from his debut, when he came on and scored an equaliser in injury-time. Unfortunately he never really got going after that, and only played 480 minutes in all competitions (a bit more than five matches’ worth).
Arsenal recalled him and sent him back to fellow Netherlands side Maastricht, one league down, where he played last season. In the months since then he more than doubled his minutes, getting 1,231 with Maastricht alone. He also got on the score-sheet a few times, and won more of his games.
It’s not all perfect, as the team couldn’t progress through the promotion play-offs against Almere City. Overall though, it’s been a much better loan spell for the second half of the season.