Arsenal have snapped up defender Jakub Kiwior and the move has left one of his former coaches in Poland somewhat surprised.
The Gunners secured an important signing last Friday with Leandro Trossard arriving from Brighton and Hove Albion.
That gave Arsenal another option out wide but Edu wasn’t quite done there.
Just as Trossard was finalising his move to the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal were working on another deal.
Defender Kiwior became Arsenal’s top target and they managed to quickly get a deal done with Italian club Spezia.
Arsenal struck a £22million deal for Kiwior and he was at the Emirates to watch the Gunners beat Manchester United on Sunday.
Kiwior is a promising talent but hardly a household name, so fans have been trying to find out as much as they can this week.
Jakub Kiwior’s former coach surprised by Arsenal move
Kiwior has a very interesting background.
The defender started out with GKS Tychy in his native Poland before spending a couple of years in the Anderlecht ranks over in Belgium.
Kiwior returned to Poland with Zeleziarne Podbrezova and then moved on to Slovakia with MSK Zilina before securing a big move to Italy in 2021.
That’s a path few players have been down and one of his old coaches has now reacted to the move.
Michal Hanek coached Kiwior at Podbrezova and has now spoken to BBC Sport about the defender’s rise.
Hanek has admitted that the move to Arsenal surprises him – but in a good way!
Hanek felt that Kiwior could play in Italy or Germany but it’s a major compliment to his development that he is now a Premier League player with the league leaders.
Kiwior allegedly had great physical attributes as a kid and was very strong mentally, but quite introverted and struggled with the tempo of the game.
Kiwior has improved massively over the years and Hanek will no doubt be very proud of his former defender for earning this big move to London.
“I knew that if Jakub stayed healthy, he would be playing in a foreign club, in Italy or Germany,” said Hanek. “However, to be completely honest, I wouldn’t guess Premier League and Arsenal. I am surprised by this transfer – but in a very positive way.”
“Jakub had all the requirements for senior football. He had good physical attributes, was great in duels, and as a young player he was already great thanks to his physical quality. He would already absorb big pressure. In important games, it was visible that he was mentally very solid. He didn’t communicate too much and was rather introverted, but mentally very strong and was never afraid of tough moments and tough opponents.”
“There were things to work on, though. He had a problem with game tempo, organisation of the defence, but it was clear that would improve when he would start playing regularly,” he added.
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