Jakub Kiwior in action for Arsenal against Man United (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
He may not be the biggest name in world football, but Jakub Kiwior has shown once again that he has such an important role to play at Arsenal, even if only as a squad player.
The Poland international didn’t attract too many headlines when he first joined the Gunners in January 2023 for just €20m (as per BBC Sport‘s report at the time), but it’s clear that that now looks like a bargain.
Whether it’s filling in at centre-back or even slotting in at left-back, Kiwior has shown he’s Arsenal’s Mr Reliable, and there aren’t too many squad players of that calibre in the game.
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It’s been widely reported that Kiwior could leave Arsenal as Serie A clubs show an interest in him, with Sacha Tavolieri among the sources to recently speculate about the 24-year-old’s future.
Few could blame Kiwior for wanting to leave for more regular first-team football, but his solid showing when stepping in for the injured Gabriel Magalhaes against Manchester United yesterday shows just how valuable he is to Mikel Arteta.
Jakub Kiwior is the kind of player Arsenal need to win titles
Jakub Kiwior in action for Poland against Wales
Jakub Kiwior is a quality squad player for Arsenal (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
It’s not that long ago that we saw Arsenal totally collapse in a Premier League title race when William Saliba picked up an injury in the latter part of the 2022/23 season.
Rob Holding had to fill in for Saliba in some of Arsenal’s most important games that season, and you could see the difference – it was an absolutely monumental drop-off in quality.
Kiwior, by contrast, didn’t put a foot wrong against Man United yesterday, even if some fans will surely have been nervous about a big name like Gabriel missing out.
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All the great title winners have had reliable squad players like this, and Kiwior must therefore be kept at all costs this January.
AFC might have a job to do to persuade Kiwior to stay on and mostly warm the bench at the Emirates Stadium when he could perhaps be a starter for a lot of other top teams, but it’s their job to put the good of the club first.
Signed for a bargain fee, Arsenal now need to make sure they don’t make a mistake by letting such a reliable backup player go when you never know what kind of serious injuries or suspensions in big games could be around the corner.