New centre-back Jakup Kiwior says he was “ecstatic” when he learned that Arsenal were interested in signing him and that he couldn’t help laughing when he was presented with a Gunners shirt with his name on.
The Poland international, 22, moves to Emirates Stadium from Spezia in a deal worth a reported €25 million and has penned a contract that will run until 2027 with an option for a further 12 months.
Speaking in his native tongue for his first interview at the club, Kiwior looked like a man who couldn’t quite believe what was going on.
“It’s huge for me that Arsenal were interested and that I’m able to be here. I’m aware that Arsenal are a massive club in a top league, so I didn’t really have to think about much else. I was just ecstatic and really wanted to come.
He added: “When I saw my name on an Arsenal shirt for the first time, I just laughed! I was so happy to see my name on the shirt of such a huge club. For me, it’s an incredibly happy moment and the pinnacle to play for such a big club.
“I’ve always dreamt of playing in the Premier League. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and if I got the chance, then I knew I’d have to make the most of it because it was one of my biggest dreams. For me, it’s the best league. I’m thrilled to be here.”
It’s unknown how long Arsenal were tracking Kiwior but once our interest in him was made public on Friday, we worked quickly to finalise the deal.
A left-sided centre-back with a past as a holding midfielder, it’s likely that Kiwior will initially provide backup to Gabriel Magalhaes.
Reflecting on the acquisition, manager Mikel Arteta said: “It’s great that Jakub is joining us. He’s a young versatile defender who has shown huge potential and qualities with Spezia in Serie A, and also at international level with Poland.
“Jakub is a player who will give us strength and quality to our defensive unit. We welcome Jakub and his family to Arsenal and look forward to working with him.”
Sporting Director Edu added: “We’re delighted to have completed the signing of Jakub Kiwior. He’s a young talent who we’ve been monitoring for a while now. We are now all looking forward to working with Jakub and seeing his continued development with us. We welcome Jakub to Arsenal.”
Welcome Yakoob…
To the turf of champions
A year and a half ago he was playing second division Slovakian football.
In five months he could have a premier league winners medal.
Life, eh?
Thats the beautiful thing about the game. To a player who has the heart, dedication and willingness to succeed (apart from the necessary technical skill) – all it takes is 1 or 2 seasons of playing among other men at any decent level (2nd division is still decent) to truly awaken that player to rise to another level. The amount of things a player can learn in 1 or 2 seasons is enough to realize what it takes to succeed even higher.
His missus is gorgeous too.
An observation, I hereby confess, that facilitated a sharp dig in the ribs from Mrs Q whilst we were watching the Neville-muted game on tv the other day, with the words “She’s young enough to be your daughter, grandad.”
Life, eh? 😂
Famous for being…the Polish twerking champion. We live in the Age of Kardashian.
Prefer the Polish champ to the Ukrainian twerking champ mudryk.
CB and DM in 1 recruitment. Awesome!
Eau de Bielik
I can imagine that he was. A move completely out of the blue. Edu kept these cards very close to his chest.
Not with Todd Boehly always stalking us.
He’s put one of those AirTag things on Edu, or there’s a mole in the camp. I would watch a thriller based on this.
Plot 1
TB: Where is the Brazilian?
GP: The tracker says he’s on this plane, your malevolence sir
TB: But that’s impasssable
*Plane suddenly lurches*
Plot 2
Edu: I told each of you 1 different transfer target and waited. When I saw Chelsea had signed Yaya Sanogo, I knew which one of you had betrayed me. Get out of my sight.
Ok, the beginning of elaborate transfer based thrillers are a sign I should sleep.
😀
New from Netflix – ‘Stalkey Todd.’
Never mind ‘Sweeney Todd’, we’ve got ‘Stalkey Todd.’
Nice.
It’s all coming together.
Still need a Partey backup
Kiwior is backup to both gabby and partey
Maybe. Except I feel like (until this summer at least) we could move Ben White or Zinchenko into those areas if we had to, now we have good cover of either of them needed to
Pretty sure the “versatility” Arteta is citing is about Kiwior being also able to play as a defensive midfielder, apparently that’s mainly where he played in his first season in Serie A
It’s looking like that may be Rice from West Ham in the summer. Rice has said he’s not signing a new contract and Arsenal are his preferred destination.
… am i the only one who think its west ham leaking this Rice thing to the press to try and get Chelsea to enter a bidding war… Hes got a hefty englander tax as im not sure hes worth that…
Minor disclaimer i thought Ramsdale was good but not that good. So I’ve previous at wildly underestimating players
Mate, Rice is one of the best midfielders in the world. He’d be worth every penny.
That said, nothing surprises me anymore; if he end’s up at Chelsea, I shan’t even bother to roll my eyes….
sounds very plausible. I like Rice a lot but our limited resources are probably spent better elsewhere than shelling out 100mil for him
Stop with the limited resources mate, Josh will inherit more money of his mother than Abramovich ever had.
Vieira, Rice….they’ll be a Brady back in the squad before you know it.
Mo is Partey’s backup
In these interviews Mikel Artet always says “we welcome [Name of player] and his family to the club”.
I noticed when Viera was been given a tour when he newly signed… Edu asked about his family…
Little things like these are why this club is feeling so much like one unit right now. Top, top credit to Mikel… his leadership abilities is laudable.
And welcome, Kiwior. Let’s goooo
Arteta PR is top notch.
Have you no shame good sir?! You forgot to welcome his family!
2nd best young player this season in Italy, only behind Kvaratskhelia.
This will go down as a genius long term signing.
I’d love to see the data that we’re using to make these slightly left field buys.
From so many years of scattergun, panic shopping to such a measured, shrewd and largely successful approach in the space of a couple of years has been nothing short of astounding.
We did use data analysis in the latter days of Wenger. Gabriel Paulista? Elneny? Xhaka was Second on a list with kante at the top, as was Pepe.
We just weren’t using it very well
I’d rather we didn’t see it.
Heck, let this be our advantage in the league… this way, we can release rumours that we’re after a player and rival clubs can overbid for them. 🧠
Should be fun to watch! 🤗
Not every purchase is successful. The data they use is all match statistics which are measured in every single top tier division across Europe and mostly other continents as well. Match statistics of a players individual %’s don’t lie. But match statistics cannot determine a players mentality, adaptability and the overall environment a player is walking into. Arsenal was shaky since Wenger left, so the pressure of that immediately after with Emery was massive.. and since results weren’t matching to Wengers standard, it makes the environment that much harder, even with the fans demands. Arteta was given time because there… Read more »
One could even say, transformational.
Looks like we’re back to signing gems that no one has heard of but go on to be top players, just like in the early Wenger years. Arsenal are back.
We shall be ruling the EPL for decades.
To be fair we did that during the later Wenger years too… Cesc, RVP, Ramsey, Koscielny… problem is we didn’t keep them for long once they became top players, and didn’t complement them with signing some experienced, proven talents like we’ve done recently. Part of why I’m much more optimistic about this team than the one we had leading the league in 2008…
The 2007-2008 team was brilliant but lacked mental toughness at the business end of the season. No characters to rally the team after the horrific injury to Eduardo, Gallas being Gallas, Van Persie perenially crocked, and Adebayor hitting poor form, etc.
That’s a good call.
Look at the leaders we have now – Odegaard, Xhaka, Zinchenko, Ramsdale, White, Tierney, Saliba, Partey, Saka.
Mental toughness? It’s like having the SAS out there.
Welcome on board the Arsenal, Kiwior. Excel
The key to success is to make it simple.
Just do your best and forget the rest!
Welcome home, brother.
This is the variation which will work with Trossard drawing players towards him in the left channel supported by Xhaka, Tierney overlapping wide and Kiwior covering left back and Zinchenko coming inside. Pulling the opposition shape over the the left and creating space for our right side to attack and our right back to tuck in.
Ie time that Saka and White are rested together
Could see the pace of Marquinos or Martinelli attacking the space on the right.
Playing 2 left backs surely opens things up on the right 😉
That’s Frank Lampard in disguise. 😂
ha ha
Both Jakub and Trossard would have been like ‘just wow’ at our home yesterday!! every player sitting on the fence will want to join us now!! and that was my biggest worry when we missed out on champions league for too many years together!!
I was listening to his interview on the dot com, the guy seems a little introvert. Makes also impression that hoe doesn’t speak English, and with no other Pole in the first team currently, this might be a problem for his acclimatization.
If he could do with some Italian, we dont have those lot either! Its been 10 years since Vito Monone.
Not sure his girlfriend will appreciate you referring to her like that….
Don’t you just love it when you get a young player, no attitude, genuinely over the moon to join us. That’s what it should be all about!
I like the fact that MA always welcomes the families of the new players when they sign…..touch of class from my manager
Sounds like a humble man. Welcome!
I hope he’s 20 million pounds better than Pablo Mari.