Arsenal striker Takuma Asano to spend next season on loan at Bundesliga side Stuttgart
More work permit problems trigger a second loan term for Japanese player yet to pull on a Gunners' first team shirt
ARSENAL have agreed another loan deal for Takumo Asano with Stuttgart.
It seems the 21-year-old Japanese striker, signed from Sanf Hiroshima last summer, still does not qualify for a work permit.
According to German publication Asano is thought not to have played enough games over the past two years.
The situation has triggered a clause in his loan deal that means he will stay at Stuttgart for a second season, having helped them win promotion to the Bundelsiga.
There were three stipulations that Arsenal included in his initial move that could enable them to recall him prematurely.
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Either Stuttgart remained in the second division, Asano played fewer than 25 appearances or he became eligible for a work permit to play in the Premier League.
Stuttgart first moved in with an invitation to play in the second tier of the Bundesliga after Asano impressed at Rio 2016, where he scored two goals in three games.
Last season he scored four times, and overall amassed 13 goals in 43 matches for club and country.
Now Stuttgart’s sporting director Jan Schindelmeiser has confirmed Asano will stay in Germany next season, too.
Arsene Wenger describes him as "talented young striker and very much one for the future".
But having yet to pull on an Arsenal first team shirt, Gunners' fans are left wondering if the player contracted until 2018 ever will.