So if he does choose to pursue that career, what style of coach would he be?
“Of course I would love to play the game how we play it at Arsenal, our style of football,” Jakub says. “But I imagine if I start out coaching in Poland, then I would not have the same quality we have here. You cannot play that style if you don’t have the right players. But of course I would like to try playing good football, but that all depends on the players you have.”
Still only 23, those decisions could be a long way off yet, but if his playing career is any indication, it could be something else he tries young. After all, he was not yet professional when he earned his first move away to an established European side. Looking back, Jakub says it was the pivotal moment in his career to date.
“Yes. I was 16, or maybe 15,” he explains. “I was playing for the under-17s and we were against the under-19s. At that game there was a scout watching, from Anderlecht. I played really well in that game, and then I started training with the under-19s, and two weeks later that scout from Anderlecht called me for a trial.
"I spent two weeks there on trial, and so I think that was a big moment for me, because when I came back from the trial, I started training with the first team. That was the moment for me, and maybe if I hadn’t played well in that game that the scout was watching, I wouldn’t have made that big jump in such a short period. It was a big year in my life.
“I moved to Anderlecht when I was 16, and just before that was when I grew a lot as well, I got taller and stronger when I was around 15, so I took a lot of confidence from that. But to be honest, when I was young I was full of confidence in every game I played!
I was used to playing against the bigger boys, so I felt like I should be confident about that. I started with the national team at under-16 level, and then I played every age group since then. I was never scared or nervous playing around older players, it made me better and I enjoyed it.
“My mind was always on how to improve, and it was like that when I first moved to Italy, and then of course when I came here too.”