Arsenal

Arsenal

Premier League • England

Unexpected Arsenal signing’s true feelings about move revealed, as agent explains accelerated transfer

Jakub Kiwior Poland 2022

The agent of one of Arsenal’s three new signings from the January transfer window has revealed the inside story of how his client ended up at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal took their chance to strengthen their squad during January while top of the Premier League. Three new faces were added to Mikel Arteta’s squad: Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho.

Their pursuit of Trossard played out in public, eventually ending in their favour. The winger had been putting pressure on Brighton to let him leave, as had his agent.

The other two signings Arsenal made were a little more surprising, though. Little was known about their interest in Kiwior before he joined from Spezia, while few could have predicted the late twist that they would be buying Jorginho from Chelsea too.

Now, the agent who orchestrated one of those transfers has revealed how everything happened.

Sasha Baranov, who looks after Kiwior’s career, has explained how it was “difficult to say no” to Arsenal as the defender looked for the next step in his career.

“We thought the boy deserved an important team. With all due respect to Bologna, the boy couldn’t go to a team like Bologna,” Baranov told TV Play.

“When Arsenal arrives for a 22-year-old boy it becomes difficult to say no. If it had been Juventus or another team it would have perhaps been the same, but Arsenal is the team that has gone further in the discussions.”

Arsenal beat the likes of Juventus, Inter, AC Milan and Napoli to Kiwior’s signature after he caught attention in Italy.

Jakub Kiwior didn’t force Arsenal move

Kiwior only spent 18 months with Spezia, but during his time in the bottom half of Serie A, he quickly established himself as someone destined for bigger things.

That said, Baranov has now revealed that the 22-year-old was not originally supposed to be the subject of a January transfer. What’s more, it appears Kiwior was actually quite ambivalent about joining Arsenal.

“I didn’t think it would be so fast,” Baranov added. “I’m honest we didn’t think he would leave in January. We were thinking more from a summer perspective, thinking of staying in La Spezia until June.

“Arsenal then arrived. The boy didn’t put pressure; he said that if it could get done, fine, otherwise he would have waited.”

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Kiwior has agreed to a contract until 2028 with Arsenal, though he is yet to make his debut for them. Soon, he will be trying to establish himself alongside the likes of William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Benjamin White and Rob Holding.

Saliba and Gabriel have been the main starting partnership for Arteta’s team this season. In turn, White has been featuring more at right-back and Holding has been a backup option centrally.

Having Kiwior as extra cover could be useful in the short term. In the long term, if Arteta can develop him into an even better player than he already is, then the decisions that led to the move would be justified.

But for now, the Poland international will have to earn his reputation in north London.

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