Charlton have announced the season-long loan signing of Krystian Bielik from Arsenal.
The 20 year old has suffered a terrible time with injury over the last couple of seasons, and has never really pushed for a first team place despite high hopes when he signed from Legia Warsaw as a 16 year old.
He’s already played in the Polish top-flight at that point, and Arsene Wenger sounded confident that he’d challenge quickly at Arsenal, but that has not been the case.
The move to the League One side should hopefully allow him to get some regular football under his belt and hopefully get his career back on track because he is a talented player.
Speaking to the official Charlton website, Bielik said, “I want to show everyone that I can play football.
“It’s a good opportunity for me to play here because I know people are going to watch me and I’m under pressure. That’s what I like, I want to do my best.”
While Addicks boss Lee Bowyer sounded very happy with the capture of a player he appears to see as a midfielder despite the fact he was redeployed as a central defender with us.
“He is someone that can protect the back four,” said the former Leeds midfielder.
“He’s good on the ball, strong and he’s someone that can fill in at centre-half as well. He’s obviously good on the ball, you don’t play for Arsenal unless you can play, so I know he’s going to be another great addition to the squad.
“I couldn’t tell you how many phone calls [Head of Recruitment] Steve Gallen made to Arsenal to try and get this one over the line.
“It’s been going on for a while now, so we’re delighted to get him here.”
Best of luck to him, he deserves an injury free season at least, and if he gets that then we can better judge where he is as a player.
Bielik has a contract with Arsenal until 2020.
Good move for the lad, he’s still got, at 20, plenty of time to progress and maybe next season if Emery needs more def/mid options Unai will find the option from within the club.
Now to find a good club that’ll take Ben Sheaf from us on loan and will also play him in his correct position of def/mid…
Good luck, loads of potential, let’s hope he plays a lot at Charlton and kicks on.
Really pleased that they’re taking him as a defensive midfielder, his proper position, and one he’s really good at. Good luck to him there, if he stays fit and plays to his potential he’s an exciting player for the future, and hopefully can step up for us next season.
He hasn’t played DM for a couple of seasons, so the fact that Bowyer is saying this sounds like Bielik has told him he wants to play in midfield. Look forward to see how he does.
TBH just scouting him would show that. He basically looks and plays like a midfielder in defence.
Well this could work out alright. Song and Coquelin came of age during loans spells at Charlton so let’s hope this helps him kick on (and let’s forget about Sanogo and Frimpong because they don’t fit the narrative).
Charlton, The arsenal finishing school (except for Sanogo)!!!!!!
I hope he pulls a Coquelin and put his career back on track.
“has suffered a terrible time with injury over the last couple of seasons”….sounds familiar ?
Yesterdays post on the visit to the high performance centre, at the training ground, ties in with this. All that hardware and software, might just go some way, to ensuring that quote is applied less frequently to Arsenal players, in the future.
He was also left to play with an injured shoulder for nearly a whole match, by coaches who are no longer with the club. I think our Academy is a lot more professional this season, and the loans that are being made seem to be better thought out, more for the player’s benefit.
” he appears to see as a midfielder despite the fact he was redeployed as a central defender with us.”
This is what’s gonna save his career, a move back to midfield. The CB conversion was a shambles, much like many, if not all our DM to CB converts, and it was ruining his career.
Didn’t like Bowyer as a player, but gonna give him ratings for seeing this. Beilik is a Midfielder, and thankfully now that DMs are back in fashion at Arsenal, it will help him.