Arsenal have began to show an interest in Kaoru Mitoma as the Japan international takes the Premier League by storm.
The 25-year-old has been a revelation for Brighton this season, and even scored against the Gunners back in December as he makes a name for himself in English football.
In total, Mitoma – who 90min claimed back in January is a target for Arsenal – has now scored 10 goals in 28 appearances across all competitions, while also providing six assists.
Seven of those have come in the Premier League, meaning the Mikel Arteta target has now broken a record.
What’s the story?
Well, Mitoma has now broken the record for most goals by a Japanese player in a single Premier League campaign.
The Brighton No.22 scored a delightful lob in Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Brentford, which saw him surpass Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki’s respective tallies of six Premier League goals in one season by a Japanese player.
Read Related Also: 'Told by people close to Partey': Watts shares what he's heard about Arsenal star's injury
It is a special achievement for Mitoma, who arrived on these shores as a relatively unknown figure when joining the Seagulls in a £2.7m deal from Kawasaki Frontale back in 2021.
The £20,000-a-week man’s efforts have already taken Brighton into the FA Cup Semi-Final and also look set to help the Seagulls qualify for Europe this season. It is no wonder that Arsenal want to sign him.
Arsenal may struggle to sign Mitoma
In our view, Brighton won’t make it easy for Arsenal to sign Mitoma – to say the least.
The Gunners have already seen how tough it can be to lure players away from the Amex Stadium, after the Seagulls rejected their £70m bid for Moises Caicedo back in January.
Therefore – with Mitoma contracted to Brighton until July 2025 – Arsenal will surely struggle to strike a deal unless they offer an extraordinary amount.
In other news, Arsenal target Kaoru Mitoma now breaks Premier League record
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘677672980820926’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
