Arsenal Football Club

[oggy4tw]

Vince Vega schrieb vor 51 Minuten:

Ganz stark dass man da noch die 3 pkt mitgenommen hat. Ich verfolge Arsenal seit fast einem Jahrzehnt, aber zugegeben die letzten Jahre eher weniger. Seit arteta gefällt mir das ganze und der Fußball macht mir Spaß. Gegensatz zu meiner Austria konnte man sagen mhm

was soll ich als Innsbrucker sagen

[Jay Gooner]

 

und das ohne Jesus. wir verkraften seinen Ausfall ech viel besser als ichs mir erwartet hab. 

und tbh wärens mit Jesus statt Nketiah heut wahrscheinlich 80 touches in der box gewesen, aber ob er das 3:2 so gemacht hätt, glaub ich fast nicht.

bearbeitet 22. Januar 2023 von Jay Gooner

[froehlix]

Ich seh ja normalerweise fast jedes Spiel, 2023 ist sich leider noch keines ausgegangen... und dann sind das solche Spiele

[Noobody]

Irre..

Der letzte Sieg kurz vor Schluss gegen United muss wohl das Siegestor von Henry in Emirates gewesen sein..

Also mein 20 bis 26 Jähriges ich hätte wohl tränen geweint zusätzlich auch weil 2 Akademie Spieler die Tore gemacht haben  .

So habe ich nur gejubelt und war gleichzeitig so erleichtert als der VAR durchgewunken hat. Mein bald 3 Jähriger Sohn hat mit mir gejubelt/geschrien aber das noch eher wegen mir(vermute ich)  .

bearbeitet 23. Januar 2023 von Noobody

[huawaJ]

es ist zach zu akzeptieren, dass wir trotz aller freude eine fast unmenschliche leistung brauchen, um es zu schaffen.

leicester wurde mit 81 punkten meister. Wir damals 2. Mit 71 punkten.

31 punkte in 19 spielen. 10 siege, 1x und 8 niederlagen. Haha

aber naja seit city/pep ernst macht, gibt es neue regeln in der liga.

liverpool sind die einzigen, die es nachvollziehen können^^

 

Einfach jetzt mal den moment genießen, aber es wird noch immer extrem schwer. Es sind erst 50% durch und 2x city offen.

dafür spurs und united schon 2x gespielt

 

mein motm gestern. Zinny !! Unfassbar

 

[Jay Gooner]

Noobody schrieb vor 31 Minuten:

 

So habe ich nur gejubelt und war gleichzeitig so erleichtert als der VAR durchgewunken hat. Mein bald 3 Jähriger Sohn hat mit mit gejubelt/geschrien aber das noch eher wegen mir(vermute ich)  .

hauptsache gut erzogen 

mein 9jähriger halbbruder (der vom alter mein sohn sein könnt, papa war fleißig) war bis vor kurzem Man Utd "fan" wegen Ronaldo lol. gestern hamma das spiel zusammen gschaut und er hat sich dauernd einen elfer für Arsenal gewünscht  

 

https://onefootball.com/de/news/exclusive-kiwior-to-arsenal-transfer-imminent-fresneda-talks-more-fabrizio-romano-36643918

interessante details zu Arsenal auch in Fabrizios transfer round-up

huawaJ schrieb vor 5 Minuten:

mein motm gestern. Zinny !! Unfassbar

 

 

glaub eh auch der offizielle motm oder?

bearbeitet 23. Januar 2023 von Jay Gooner

[themanwhowasntthere]

huawaJ schrieb vor 29 Minuten:

es ist zach zu akzeptieren, dass wir trotz aller freude eine fast unmenschliche leistung brauchen, um es zu schaffen.

leicester wurde mit 81 punkten meister. Wir damals 2. Mit 71 punkten.

31 punkte in 19 spielen. 10 siege, 1x und 8 niederlagen. Haha

aber naja seit city/pep ernst macht, gibt es neue regeln in der liga.

liverpool sind die einzigen, die es nachvollziehen können^^

dabei ja laut @Starostyak heuer meisterschaft "walk in the park"

[Rothaut]

Jay Gooner schrieb vor 6 Stunden:

 

mein 9jähriger halbbruder (der vom alter mein sohn sein könnt, papa war fleißig) war bis vor kurzem Man Utd "fan" wegen Ronaldo lol. gestern hamma das spiel zusammen gschaut und er hat sich dauernd einen elfer für Arsenal gewünscht  

Gloryhunter 

[dialsquare]

Wir sollen an Weston McKennie interessiert sein

[lingudude]

Zinchenko für 30 Mio wird langfristig als unser bester Transfer seit Henry in die Vereinsgeschichte eingehen. Was für ein Spieler. Fußball-IQ von 150

huawaJ schrieb vor 13 Stunden:

 

leicester wurde mit 81 punkten meister. Wir damals 2. Mit 71 punkten.

 

 

naja, das war halt auch eine besonders schwache Saison, wo alle Topteams am Sand waren. Dass man um die 90 Punkte herum braucht um die PL zu gewinnen ist denk ich schon seit langer Zeit normal

[Jay Gooner]

welcome to Arsenal! 

gut dass es so unterm radar war sonst wär er jetzt um 40mio bei chelsea

kriegt bei uns anscheinend 58k die Woche, 5 1/2 Jahre Vertrag

Bonuspunkte dafür dass er sich mit Zinny auf der linken Seite (auch sprachlich) gleich gut verstehen wird

 

bearbeitet 24. Januar 2023 von Jay Gooner

[Jay Gooner]

im Athletic ist jetzt der einzige Artikel den man zu Kiwior lesen braucht/muss

Kiwior’s Arsenal transfer: Fast and technical defender who impressed Lewandowski

Spoiler

By James McNicholas

Jan 24, 2023

69

data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMTQiIGhlaWdodD0iMjAiIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxNCAyMCIgZmlsbD0ibm9uZSIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIj4KPHBhdGggZD0iTTAgMFYwLjAxOTk5VjEuNDk5MjVWMTguMjcwOVYxOS45OUw3IDE2LjA5MkwxMi41MDQzIDE5LjE2MDRMMTIuNTU0MSAxOS4xOTA0TDEyLjkyMzEgMTkuNDAwM0wxNCAyMFYxLjQ5OTI1VjAuMDE5OTlWMEgwWk0xMi41MTQyIDE3LjQ0MTNMNy4wMDk5NyAxNC4zNzI4TDEuNDk1NzMgMTcuNDQxM1YxLjQ5OTI1SDEyLjUxNDJWMTcuNDQxM1oiIGZpbGw9ImJsYWNrIi8+Cjwvc3ZnPgo=

---

Jakub Kiwior is new to pretty much everybody in London.

Before reports broke that Arsenal had agreed a €25million (£22m, $27m) deal with Spezia Calcio to sign the 22-year-old centre-back, it was not even publicly known he was on the club’s radar. The impending acquisition was whisked into the Emirates Stadium through a discreet entrance, but could probably have walked through the turnstile without being recognised. Kiwior is not, despite his international pedigree, a well-known player in England.

But nor was he, until relatively recently, in Poland. Since his teenage years, Kiwior has played his club football in Belgium, Slovakia and Italy. He made his debut for Poland’s national team seven months ago. 

It was only then that his profile began to rise and Kiwior began to catch the eyes of the great and good of the football world.

 

Kiwior keeps a close watch on Steven Bergwijn during his Poland debut (Photo: Andrachiewicz/PressFocus/MB Media/Getty Images)

“The first time I saw him during the warm-up against the Netherlands, I said, ‘What kind of player is this?!’,” said Robert Lewandowski in an interview with former Poland team-mates Lukasz Piszczek and Jerzy Dudek. “In the warm-up, I only saw his development, how he moves, his footwork, but later, I watched during the match and he was great.

“After the match, I told him: ‘Boy, you didn’t just come to the national squad, you came here to play in the first team’. He has a really great left foot. I don’t want to praise him too much because sometimes the media give my statements too much weight. But he has humility, wants to develop and quickly find answers, and also wants to learn. This is the most important thing.”

---

Kiwior had a brush with fame as a boy. Polish website Sport picked him out in an interview with youth coach Krzysztof Berger. “Among the children, a blond boy stands out, for whom the ball sticks to his boot,” they wrote. “All right, maybe only to the left one, but still. This is eight-year-old Kuba Kiwior, who started regular training at the age of four.”

“This is our Roberto Carlos,” said Berger. “He can strike the ball beautifully, takes free kicks and corners. The Brazilians of Polish football are born in Tychy (the city of Kiwior’s birth),” Berger joked. When asked about his favourite pursuits, ‘Kuba’ hurriedly answered: “Dribbling the ball, heading, shooting.”

The young Kiwior had begun working with Berger in 2004. “He was only four years old,” explains the coach. “As is the case with children of this age, he was very shy at first, but with every training session, he became bolder.

“He was impeccable from an early age: dynamic movement, aggression, innate wisdom in playing the ball. He scored many goals in indoor tournaments. At home, the shelves are probably bending with trophies for the best player and top scorer.”

Typically, Kiwior trained with boys three years older than him. It assisted in his development. By the time he was 16, he had attracted the interest of Anderlecht, who wanted to add him to their squad for the UEFA Youth League, Europe’s main club competition for under-19s. Anderlecht paid for flights and accommodation for Jakub and his father, Piotr, to visit Belgium. Piotr described it as a “one in a million chance”. It paid off.

Anderlecht provided a crucial period in Kiwior’s development. In these early years, he played alongside new Arsenal team-mate Albert Sambi Lokonga. They helped Anderlecht to win Belgium’s under-17s league title, and Kiwior made five appearances in the UEFA Youth League. After two and a half years, however, he left Belgium without encroaching on the senior setup. Instead, aged 18, he moved to Slovakia to join Zeleziarne Podbrezova — ‘The Ironmongers’. The transfer fee was reported as just €10,000.

Over the second half of the 2018-19 season, the teenage Kiwior established himself at the heart of the Podrezova defence. He impressed in his 14 top-flight appearances, even wearing the captain’s armband on occasion, but could not save his team from relegation.

Off the back of his performances, he was sold to seven-time Slovakia champions Zilina for around €250,000. After his first full campaign, Kiwior (top left in the picture below) became an automatic first-choice and was named in the Slovakian league’s team of the season for 2020-21.

 

 

“Jakub is a very honest, modest and decent boy,” Zilina’s director of football Karol Feranec tells The Athletic. “He is a team player who is not afraid of responsibility.”

In the autumn of 2021, Kiwior played eight matches in Europa Conference League qualifiers, and scouts across the continent began to take notice. Left-footed centre-backs are considered to be a scarcity in Europe, and Kiwior’s height (6ft 2in, 189cm) and ability on the ball made him particularly noteworthy.

The club that ultimately took the plunge was Spezia. Kiwior had been spotted by Riccardo Pecini — part of a dynasty known in Italy as “the Maldinis of scouting”. Pecini had previously worked for Damien Comolli at Tottenham Hotspur, down the road from Arsenal, and had followed Kiwior since his time with the Poland Under-18s.

He is a scout of some pedigree, and lays claim to discovering Luka Modric, Patrik Schick, Dennis Praet and Lucas Torreira. If he had to name a particular area of specialism, eastern European centre-backs would rank highly among them: five years earlier, he had taken a young Milan Skriniar from the same club, Zilina, to Sampdoria. He later moved on to Inter Milan, with a €30million profit.

On Pecini’s recommendation, Spezia signed the 21-year-old Kiwior for €2million. The American-owned Serie A side followed a model of recruiting promising young talent with strong resale potential, and Kiwior fit the bill perfectly.

 

 

“Kuba came to us at the end of August, participated in his first training session and it seemed like he had been playing in Italy for 10 years,” says Pecini. “You can see he understands how football develops. It was as if he was brought up in the academy of Ajax or Barcelona.”

“The more the technical level of the game increases, the better this boy does. Everything becomes easier for him then.”

Again, there was a slow start — he didn’t make his debut until December. Although he had been signed as a defender, Kiwior spent most of his first season playing at the base of midfield. As a tall, upright player with a powerful left foot, perhaps coach Thiago Motta, a two-time Champions League winner in his playing days, saw something of himself in Kiwior.

 

Kiwior dribbles out from defence against AC Milan in November (Photo: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)

There was one notable off-field moment that Kiwior would probably rather forget: in December 2021, there were reports that he punched someone outside a nightclub. Despite an altercation with police, Kiwior was not arrested.

His personal life has made some more headlines this week, with British media discovering his engagement to Claudia Kowalczyk — a runner-up in the European Twerk Championships. 

When Motta was replaced by Luca Gotti in the summer of 2022, Kiwior reverted to central defence. It is, according to Pecini, his best position. “I don’t see him as a midfielder, but as a defender,” says the scout. “In a back four.” Arsenal, it seems, concur.

---

Arsenal have been looking for a left-sided centre-back for some time. A year ago, Pablo Mari moved to Udinese on loan, leaving a gap in the squad. Arsenal have players who could fill that role, but Mikel Arteta demands specificity.

Kiwior meets the requirements. At 22, he is the right age to provide long-term cover and competition for Gabriel. Although he may need to bulk up to deal with the Premier League, he fits the physical profile: scouts who have watched him play believe he could be among the quickest players at Arsenal.

His versatility is an asset, having also played as a holding midfielder and on the left of a back three. Arsenal view him as a centre-back, but the ability to operate in those zones will be valuable in Arteta’s system. With Oleksandr Zinchenko occasionally abandoning the left-back spot, the left-sided centre-back needs to have the athleticism and technical ability required to cover off that channel.

This was a deal that seemed to come together quickly but in reality, Arsenal began following Kiwior when he was called up to the Poland squad last summer. He had enjoyed a distinguished career at youth level, captaining the under-19s national side, and won his first senior call-up in May 2022 for Nations League matches against the Netherlands and Belgium. It was during that camp that he first impressed Lewandowksi. The wider football world also began to take notice. At one stage last summer, West Ham were confident they could complete a €13million deal.

“He made a really big and quick impact in the Polish national team,” says Michal Kruczkowski, a Polish sports journalist. “When we played against Sweden in March 2022 in the World Cup play-off, I promise you no one was even thinking of Kiwior going to the World Cup. But from his debut, he became the main player in the Poland defence.”

Kiwior made a late run for the World Cup squad. Despite coming into the tournament with just five caps to his name, he started all four of Poland’s games in Qatar, tussling with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe along the way — quite the proving ground for a young central defender.

 

Kiwior up against Messi at the World Cup (Photo: Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)

“He hasn’t looked out of place at that level at all,” Polish football expert Ryan Hubbard tells The Atheltic. “He looks strong, he looks mature. He’s not just a good prospect, but possibly the future of the national team defence.”

The World Cup increased Kiwior’s value substantially. Arsenal recognise he would have been far cheaper before the tournament but ultimately have chosen to move now before the price increases any further. Eighteen months ago, Arsenal successfully dipped into Serie A’s defender market through the acquisition of Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna. They were not alone in pursuing Kiwior: Italian giants Juventus and AC Milan also looked at him closely but Spezia were always aware the Premier League was likely to provide them with the most money.

Kiwior’s €25million move makes him the fifth most expensive Polish player of all time and the most lucrative sale in Spezia’s history. For the Italian side, it is a vindication of their model. “It is a source of pride for everyone, from the club to the player,” said sporting director Stefano Melissano.

That pride is shared by old connections at Zilina. “This transfer is very special,” says club director Feranec. “I’ve been an Arsenal fan since 1998 — I fell in love with Dennis Bergkamp, the style of play — and watch all the games. I am happy that a former Zilina player is part of the club of my heart.”

Spezia coach Gotti struck a less celebratory tone. “I am very happy for Kiwior and this opportunity he created for himself,” he told a press conference. “But it is frustrating for a coach. When you work to build up these players, you then don’t get to enjoy the fruits of your labour, as they are sold and you press the reset button.”

Arteta spoke with the player himself on the eve of the January window, and laid out a pathway to first-team football. He has not been guaranteed playing time but told to fight for his place. Arteta told Kiwior that he admired his long passing and ability to build the play in the left half of the pitch.

“I love passing the ball,” Kiwior said during his unveiling. “I like teams that move the ball and try to create chances that way. So, I’m happy that I’ve come to a team like that.”

 

Kiwior has started slowly at clubs, and with Arsenal and Gabriel in excellent form, you’d expect another slow introduction to life in England. Gabriel has, however, started Arsenal’s last 54 league games, so having a viable alternative will be a huge relief to Arteta. Although Arsenal always planned to sign Kiwior in this window, this feels like a signing made with next season — and the possibility of fighting on four competitive fronts — in mind.

It has been an astonishingly rapid ascent for ‘Kuba’. The eight-year-old boy with a left foot like Roberto Carlos went through a nomadic start to his career but now finds himself at the heart of his national team and on the cusp of competing in the Champions League.

It will not be so easy to sneak him into the Emirates Stadium anymore.

Additional reporting: James Horncastle

 

stand-out quotes: 

"Although he may need to bulk up to deal with the Premier League, he fits the physical profile: scouts who have watched him play believe he could be among the quickest players at Arsenal.

His versatility is an asset, having also played as a holding midfielder and on the left of a back three. Arsenal view him as a centre-back, but the ability to operate in those zones will be valuable in Arteta’s system. With Oleksandr Zinchenko occasionally abandoning the left-back spot, the left-sided centre-back needs to have the athleticism and technical ability required to cover off that channel."

 

"In the autumn of 2021, Kiwior played eight matches in Europa Conference League qualifiers, and scouts across the continent began to take notice. Left-footed centre-backs are considered to be a scarcity in Europe, and Kiwior’s height (6ft 2in, 189cm) and ability on the ball made him particularly noteworthy."

 

und vielleicht das Wichtigste:

"His personal life has made some more headlines this week, with British media discovering his engagement to Claudia Kowalczyk — a runner-up in the European Twerk Championships. "

bearbeitet 25. Januar 2023 von Jay Gooner

[froehlix]

Elneny anscheinend schwerer verletzt, möglicherweise Saisonende für ihn. Damit ist ein neuer Mittelfeldspieler wirklich Pflicht, alles andere wäre fahrlässig

[Jay Gooner]

froehlix schrieb vor einer Stunde:

Elneny anscheinend schwerer verletzt, möglicherweise Saisonende für ihn. Damit ist ein neuer Mittelfeldspieler wirklich Pflicht, alles andere wäre fahrlässig

fuck

na bin gespannt. vielleicht ists ja eh ein blessing in disguise weil sie jetzt handeln müssen

bearbeitet 26. Januar 2023 von Jay Gooner

[froehlix]

Jay Gooner schrieb vor 1 Minute:

fuck

na bin gespannt. vielleicht ists ja eh ein blessing in disguise weil sie jetzt handeln müssen

Einerseits denk ich mir das auch, andererseits ist der Markt im Sommer halt doch viel besser...
Aber für die Title Challenge hätten wir wahrscheinlich sowieso schon im Winter jemanden holen müssen
Vielleicht ergibt sich ja eine Leihe? Edu ist jetzt auf jeden Fall gefragt