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Arsenal Right-Back Takehiro Tomiyasu Has Been Compared To Cristiano Ronaldo

Arsenal Right-Back Takehiro Tomiyasu Has Been Compared To Cristiano Ronaldo

Talk about lofty expectations.

Daniel Marland

Daniel Marland

Arsenal right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu has been described as having a 'Cristiano Ronaldo' mentality by one of his former coaches.

Tomiyasu has been a standout performer for the Gunner since arriving from Bologna in a £17 million transfer on deadline day.

The 22-year-old has a bright future ahead of him and former Sint-Truiden's sporting director Andre Pinto, who took a gamble on Tomiyasu as a teenager, thinks there's one key similarity with Ronaldo.

What is amazing about Tomi is that he doesn't accept anything that isn't success," he told Goal. "He's not lucky, nothing for Tomi comes because he's lucky. He's just a hard working player.

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"You find a lot of dedicated players, but Tomi has a little bit of the Cristiano Ronaldo mentality in terms of determination, in terms of working hard and in terms of eating healthy.

"He is the type of player who is never satisfied. He will always continue to work hard to keep developing himself."

The Japan international spent a year in Belgium before making the move to Serie A in 2019.

Being compared to Ronaldo work ethic-wise is a big feather in Tomiyasu's cap however, as the five-time Ballon d'Or winner is an incredible professional.

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Ronaldo is dedicated to being the best an stories over the years have shown the measures he'll take.

Former teammate and close friend Rio Ferdinand recently discussed the number of people Ronaldo employs to keep himself fit.

Ferdinand spoke to Anthony Joshua last week on William Hill's YouTube channel, and asked he could do to reach the elite levels Ronaldo does.

The BT Sport pundit replied: "I think you've gotta be brave - people never talk about Cristiano's bravery.

"He was brave to take risks, he came over to another country. He was brave to remain the person that he was, and didn't change really.

"He became obsessed with the sport that he chose and then drilled down into details which was building a team around himself.

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"I went round his house one time and I walked in and he had about six/seven people siting in his front room. I said to him, 'Cris, who are all these people, man?'

"He was like, 'That's my personal masseur, my nutritionist, my doctor, my physio, my chef.'

"He had all these people and back then no one was doing that. He was a visionary in that sense.

"He's just looking for every little detail that's going to enable him to improve.

"He'll send me a picture and he's doing deep water recovery sessions in the sea. He's driven two hours to get there when he was in Turin with Juventus.

"Other people are at home or out at dinner. He's just looking for that extra edge."

Featured Image Credit: PA Images

Topics: Football, Premier League, England, Arsenal, Cristiano Ronaldo