Arsenal star Cedric Soares has claimed that Takehiro Tomiyasu has returned to fitness but hasn’t featured lately because he’s not been picked by Mikel Arteta. The Japanese international has been out of action since January due to a calf injury.
Arteta has been adamant that Tomiyasu won’t be rushed back into first team action, but revealed that he could be in the squad for Monday’s trip to Crystal Palace. Soares has impressed whilst deputising at right-back and insisted he welcomes the competition for a starting berth.
However, the Portugal star also stated that Tomiyasu has recovered from his injury but that Arteta opted to stick with him instead. When asked which of the two will start when the Japan star is fit, Soares told Sky Sports: "This is a question for Mikel. I will do my job and Tomi will as well.
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“He was fit in the last one or two weeks but the coach kept me on the team. So it’s his [Arteta’s] call in the end. I’m not afraid of competition. If you look at my career, you can see the number of big names I had in front of me and sometimes I turned it around and sometimes I didn’t.
“Now at Arsenal we have two or three options in every position. Normally, the team benefits from it. If you have two players fighting for one position, the level of improvement becomes higher for both. It's as simple as that."
Soares also revealed that he was well aware that Arsenal signed Tomiyasu as their first choice right-back when he arrived from Bologna last summer. Nonetheless he insists that despite the rivalry for a starting spot that they’re on good terms.
He added: "Me and Tomi are good friends. We try to help each other on the pitch. Before the game, I sometimes help him when I'm not playing. Sometimes he helps me.
"When he came, of course I knew he was going to have these opportunities [to start] - that's why he came in the first place! What's important is that me and Tomiyasu have a natural, positive relationship and we both want to help the team in every moment.
"He's a fantastic guy, he's young, so he has also a lot of room to keep improving. I'm there to help him and that's what I'm trying."
