Japan World Cup hero Takuma Asano was on the books at Arsenal for years - though never played for the Gunners.

The 28-year-old scored the winner in Wednesday's shock 2-1 win over Germany to hand Japan the perfect start to their World Cup campaign.

Former Gunners boss Arsene Wenger snapped up Asano from Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2016 but work permit issues prevented him from playing in the Premier League leading to his subsequent exit.

Asano later moved to Germany for loan spells with Stuttgart and Hannover before securing a permanent move to Serbian side Partizan Belgrade.

The striker is now back in Germany with VFL Bochum after signing as a free agent in 2021.