Jakub Kiwior is proving Mikel Arteta right by sanctioning his £20 million signing.
In January, out of nowhere, an announcement was made that Arsenal was signing the Polish centre back from Spezia. After joining, the 23-year-old wasn’t immediately put into the fray, though he used to make match days. But that changed last week against Chelsea.
For weeks, Rob Holding was being used to cover for the injured William Saliba, but the shoes Saliba left behind were clearly too big to fill, and with the Englishman, Arsenal’s defence got leaky. After leaking four versus Manchester City, Arteta had to change something about his defence, and dropping Holding for Kiwior was it. The winter signing has taken his chances; he’s been decent; he has only seen Arsenal concede one goal in two games.
A few weeks ago, we spoke of Arsenal revamping their defence by signing another right-footed centre-back; we also noted Kiwior needing to step up. His performance in his first two starts is promising; ex-Arsenal star Mikael Silvestre has loved what he’s seen from him. Silvestre thinks that come next season, Gabriel Magalhaes’ position in Arteta’s lineup could be under threat.
“I think Jakub Kiwior has the ability,” Silvestre told bettingexpert. “Kiwior deserves credit because coming into the end of the season when everything is at stake and you haven’t had much game time, it’s harder than we think. Well done, Kiwior.
“If there was one player he should be challenging for a starting spot, it’s Gabriel Magalhães.
“I think Saliba, when he’s on form, it’s almost a given that he would start for Arsenal whenever he comes back from injury.”
Next season, Arteta needs a quality squad that can cover for each other without a problem. With Kiwior, Gabriel’s absence wouldn’t be a blow, as he would capably fill in for him. We didn’t know why Kiwior was such an important signing for Arteta; now we know….
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