
So we just registered the arrival of Polish international Kiwior. A young player who has been used as a Centre-Back and Defensive Midfield, he is known for his ability to play out from the back and pick out a pass. He played in Poland, Slovakia and Italy. He has a good interception record.
The question I am asking myself is why are we recruiting him (also instead of Ndinka)? We have White, Tomyasu, Holding, Saliba, Gabriel and Tierney that can play there…Are we trying to get rid of one them? If so, which one? Cedric is leaving for Fulham so I am thinking that White and Tomyasu are staying…Saliba and Gabriel are safe too imho so that leaves us with Holding but he is a club’s lad so…
Maybe he is coming in to play in midfield in the end…? Maybe as a support player to beef up our defensive mid or as the back up to Xhaka…
Or he could just be recruited to make sure we are covered adequately for each position
Turner – Tomyasu, Holding, Kiwior, Tierney – El Neny, Lokonga – ESR, Vieira, Trossard – Nketiah OR
Ramsdale – White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko – Partey, Xhaka – Saka, Ode, Martinelli – Jesus
Not too bad, not too bad…knowing that Balogun will come back next season…I think that the big question is about Lokonga’s credentials to be a solid enough squad player. If we are going in for Declan Rice in the summer (which I doube), it will also make things interesting for Xhaka…but I believe we may try to lure Ruven Neves, Mikel Merino, McAlliser, Fofana or Tielemans…
Because we don’t have a second left footed CB aside Gabriel, given Pablo Mari should automatically be sold comes the Summer. 👍
Holdinho might not want to stick around forever too with the little play time he gets. We also could cash in on Tierney if a good offer comes along so you’d also lose that left CB cover there. We’re looking at the long term picture, which is good
It doesn’t hurt that he seems to be versatile too so could help bringing cover in defensive midfield. 🙂
He is bl**dy much better than McKennie.
I think the whole point of Arteta’s signings are versatility they can play in multiple positions like Zinchenko and Tomi and now even White. Whereas Tierney, Gabriel and Saliba are less versatile but then I would change them or want to see any of them leave. I think Holding is happy and less ambitious than younger players and he’s happy as a squad player. Whereas Tierney I believe Arteta is trying to make him into a more versatile player and more inverted winger like Zinchenko. I think Kiwior fits into that versatility bracket so he can play a number of roles. I think when Arteta has the squad he truly wants he will be able to change playing positions and tactics during the game. More so than we have seen before. Potter changes line-ups during the game and Arteta does too more often now. Sucking eggs I know we know they do this and we see Zinchenko moving between defence back four and moving into a six man attack formation and overloads which Arteta loves. So my belief is Arteta’s strategic approach is to have a team and players who can easily switch positions and roles seamlessly. Hence why he’s signing and developing these types of players.
Oh yeah and Trossard is both-footed hence fits that versatility type of player.
,Lewandowski said that when he first saw Kiwior selected to play in the World Cup, he thought “Who on earth is this to be chosen for the Polish national side?” At the end of the game he said “This player is fantastic”. And he has repeated his admiration for him.What better recommendation for Arteta buying him? He can play in several positions.
It’s all about his left foot but I suspect you already knew that RC 🙂 nice one.
OK, carrying on with conspiracy theories, why are we interested in Valladolid’s right wing back when we obviously already have Ben White and Tomiasu.
Are we sure Saliba is going to sign a new contract? We all like him at Arsenal but there is no real reason for him to be as loyal to us. Alarm bells are going of in my head. If the club has an inkling that Saliba might be lured by PSG or Real for example, then what happens to our defence? Ben White moves back to the middle and hay presto we need another right wing back — enter Ivan Fresneda.
Has mari start back playing after his accident
Poland wasn’t really good at WC eh
France ate the Polish defense for breakfast and Argentina did the same…not sure if it were Kiwior related but indeed, the WC does not give us a good impression of the Poland defensive set up which included Kiwior
I hope we see Jakub at some stage this evening and then I guess we’ll have a better idea of his qualities, unfortunately we won’t be seeing Smith Rowe as he’s picked up a thigh strain in training.
Apparently we are looking closely at Caicedo from Brighton to boost our midfield…60 Million pounds…
Have you seen Kivior’s long range passing YouTube reel, I know it is only YouTube but it is very impressive.
Bid for Caiceido rejected…
Lbg, RC78 or any of my fellow European gunners how the weather is usually in March
Only ever came ro europe in December
LB YouTube made gervinho look great
He’s cover for Gabriel another left footed centre back which we didn’t have before. And yet again cleverly done by Arsenal he is a player that can play in a couple of other positions on top of his favoured which seems to be becoming a trend at the club and long may it continue. Can’t remember the last time the club was run so well and I mean in terms of being successful on the pitch not making a profit
Apparently elneny injured
Do you remember when we lost to Brighton in the League Cup………………….Do you still care?
Marquinhos off to Norwich until thee d of the season on loan, makes sense to me.
Also Omar Rekik recalled from Sparta Rotterdam and seems set to join Wigan until the end of the season.
Jorginho – brilliant signing. Don’t like him, have never rated him much but for this season, what we need and where we are now, he’s a perfect fit. Unlike the previous Chelsae pensioners, this is a great addition.
How exactly you see him fitting in mike
Manu and chelsea signing has been atrocious for us
Fred, in my opinion, will deputise for Partey and Xhaka to allow them to rest. Has tons of experience, knows how to win. Will have the respect of fellow squad members and passes, retains possession and is positionally savvy. I did read a comment that he may “slow us down”. On that I have to say remember Xhaka before last season? Jorginho has the ability to benefit from the way we play and it won’t take him long to figure it out. Arteta and Edu know that.
RC, just swap the title for “Jorginho…Why?”
Wanted Mudryk and Caicedo and we got Trossard and jorG… Just let that rest.
Understand Trossard, but jorG in high press???
The stretch of games from $h*tTy through Brighton will most likely determine league and I, for one, hope that it is Partey back behind Xhaka!
If that does not occur, then it could very well be true the jorG could be the reason AFC does NOT win the league.
Remember AFC have two Europa games on March 9th and 16th and a AFC win would cram in a few two sided ties before the end of the season.
Know this is not a popular opinion, but Edu has had 2 Windows to get Partey some competition!
Arsenal fans are like the proverbial frogs in the jar (see the movie Dante’s Peak).
If I told you around Christmas that in the January transfer window we are going to strengthen the youth revolution project by signing
– a polish youngster no Arsenal supporter has ever heard of, for about 3.5x of his (TransferMarkt estimated) value,
– a 28-year winger with PL experience, but not in our top 3 picks for wing reinforcement, plus currently in unsolvable beef with his manager,
– and a 31y defensive midfielder from Chelsea giving up the competition there, who has a tendency of playing nasty in the very final hours of the window
…well I think I can safely assume you would recommend me moving into an asylum. And now almost everyone seems to be satisfied, and keep commenting “Arteta and Edu have a keen eye for smart transfers”.
Offering 70mil for a player who has only played 20 odd prem games; well, you can hardly accuse Edu of not trying.
With the business that we have done I think we still have a shot at Rice in the summer, had we signed Caicedo that possibility would have gone or am I missing something?
I guess it’s just a state of mind, you either look for the positives or you don’t, I prefer to look for the positives, so if Partey can continue to do what he’s managed to do so far this season, that is stay fit, then signing Jorginho will have no effect either way, as for the rest of our business, it’s been sensible and practical.
I enjoy to look for the positives, Kev, but not by disregarding the negatives. The goal is to have a balanced and reliable picture, not to trick/fool ourselves.
I’m sure you would be able to find the positives if we signed Mudryk and Caicedo for a £175M combined (making our January expenditures a round 200M), but then it would be a skill possess, not a mature assessment.
One of the definite positives that we used to worry about Partey getting old; now he is the youngest midfielder in our squad. 🙂
Regarding Kiwior, don’t hold your breath to see him play. Unless Gabriel suffers a serious injury or we get an unlikely favorable draw in the EL I don’t see Jakub starting a game this season.
If Kivior doesn’t play it is because we have been lucky with Gabriel’s fitness but stating the obvious it is good to have a bit of Polish insurance.
Kiwor will start if he looks good in training, Arteta’s call. If he doesn’t play it’s a bad signing because it’s unlikely Gabs and Saliba will start every game and as much as I like Holding, if this kid isn’t at least as good as Rob, we made a mistake. personally I think he’ll start at least in the Europa. As far as Caceido goes, who is he and what has he done to command an $80m fee? I’d take Jorginho every day of the week. If you have reservations, fair enough, they’re valid. I remember the reservations I had about Xhaka – exactly the same as I would about Jorginho. Can Arteta get the best out of him? He’s already proven it once, maybe he should get the benefit of the doubt.
Mudryk and Caeicedo would have been great signings with huge potential. Maybe for a team in third or fourth place. But we’re 5 points clear at the top with the youngest squad in the PL. Trossard and Jorginho bring guaranteed experience and quality who are ready to play. I just can’t see how that’s not good enough for us right now. The summer (depending on where and how we finish) will be a different story.
And here is another thing no one has mentioned, it gives the likes of Patino hope of making that midfield role in the team his own.
We’ll see, guys.
I have difficulties to imagine the scenario where Mikel would say, let’s pair Holding with Kiwior.
But who knows, maybe if we will get Nantes, Midtjylland or Salzburg in the EL…
LB, I hope you’ll be right about Jorginho leading to opportunities to Patino. But I’m not really optimistic though, as regardless of Lokonga’s fate Arteta/Edu will likely sign 2 more top midfielders in the next 3 transfer windows (Rice, Caicedo, Neves, SMS, Valverde), and Patino/Azeez/Ibrahim/MLS will not play competitive minutes for Arsenal.
Balogun is now the leading goal scorer in Ligue Un, what a nice problem to have next season.
The problem is Elneny is out for a year with an serious knee injury, and Sambi is out on loan at Crystal.
Another chavs reject, just damn.
Yes, 2 years ago, with Kante in the side, and a super team, he thrived, but this is now 2 years and another load of miles on an old slow guy. Does not fit the profile AFC have been pursuing!
So, we are now down a mid, and jorG is it, no matter what. For load management for Partey or well, not even going to put it out there in the universe.
Long live the King
Long live Partey
Let’s go!
I agree Mike
In Arteta I trust
COYG
Martinelli signed up until 2027, great news!
Now to extend Saliba, Saka and Balogun (2025)