As last season’s winter transfer window approached, Jakub Kiwior had a decision to make.
He was struggling to get regular opportunities at his club, Arsenal — at the campaign’s halfway stage, he had started just four Premier League games, in two of the four he was substituted before the 65th minute and only one of them had involved him playing his preferred position as a centre-back.
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Just 12 months after joining from Spezia in Italy, Kiwior was again contemplating his future.
In the end, he chose to stay to fight for his place — and was rewarded for his decision.
After the squad’s winter break in Dubai, Kiwior was given a run of nine consecutive Premier League starts. He played in high-profile Champions League knockout ties against Porto and Bayern Munich. By the end of the season, he had figured in 20 of Arsenal’s 38 Premier League games — a significant step forward.
Today, he is a member of Poland’s squad at Euro 2024.
Since his debut in 2022, Kiwior has become a fixture in the side. His appearance in the opening group game against the Netherlands, a 2-1 defeat on Saturday, was his 24th consecutive start for the national team. In two years of international football, he has missed just three minutes of action. Kiwior is closing in on the Polish record held by Jan Urban, a striker who featured in 25 consecutive internationals following his debut in the 1980s.
All being well, he will surpass that milestone by the end of the group stage — provided he plays against Austria on Friday, the third and final first-phase match against France four days later would likely be his 26th consecutive Poland appearance.
For 24-year-old Kiwior, his participation in these Euros is the latest step in a dramatic rise.
Just three years ago, he was an uncapped enigma playing his club football at MSK Zilina in Slovakia. Now, he is an established international and playing Champions League football.
85% – Jakub Kiwior 🇵🇱 ended on the winning side in 17 of his 20 appearances in the Premier League last season (85%); the highest win percentage of any player with 15+ games. Dependable. #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/6t2Fcin8Dz
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 10, 2024
The past few months have been important in helping him settle at Arsenal. He is described as a relatively quiet guy — calm on and off the pitch. That cool temperament is seen as one of his strengths, granting him the capacity to make good decisions under pressure.
He has nonetheless developed positive relationships within the dressing room. He joins in the training-ground darts matches, lamenting his inability to beat London Colney’s arrows king, Aaron Ramsdale. He plays video-game Call Of Duty with two of Arsenal’s three Gabis — centre-half Gabriel and striker Gabriel Jesus.
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Given they come from a similar part of Europe, it’s perhaps no surprise he has struck up a good rapport with Oleksandr Zinchenko. It was the Ukrainian who first introduced Kiwior to the Arsenal dressing room.
Kiwior was a guest at the Emirates Stadium for the 3-2 win over Manchester United in January last year. He was due to finalise his medical and sign his contract the following day. Spotting Kiwior in the stadium’s underbelly after the match, Zinchenko insisted on taking him into the dressing room to meet his new team-mates and take part in the celebrations.
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Since arriving at Arsenal, Kiwior has impressed with his technique and athleticism. At his initial medical assessments, staff were impressed by his planking ability and turn of pace. Even when away from official training, he works on his flexibility.
Kiwior also spends time with his wife Claudia and their two dogs, Szarlotka and Krecik — who have their own Instagram account.
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As well as darts, he has taken up golf. He’s also a keen ice-hockey fan — his hometown club, GKS Tychy, are five-time Polish champions.
During the process of persuading Kiwior to join Arsenal, the plan was clear: he was being signed as a left-sided centre-back. Games in that position, however, have not been easy to come by.
Gabriel and William Saliba have been dominant as the first-choice pairing — and, fortunately for Arsenal, have largely been able to avoid injury. Kiwior has huge respect for both men, and has accepted the need to be patient as he waits for an opportunity in his favourite position.
The move to left-back happened following injuries to Jurrien Timber, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Zinchenko. Initially, Kiwior was asked to replicate Zinchenko’s role as an inverted full-back, with manager Mikel Arteta and his staff trying to help him adapt to one of the team’s more tactically complex positions.
After a little while, the system was adjusted to allow Kiwior to play as a more conventional full-back — and that is when he began to really settle into the side.
Kiwior regards his time at left-back as a positive step in his development. Arsenal arguably followed Manchester City’s lead in fielding a back four comprised entirely of centre-halves — and the Pole has the physical profile to do that job.
He has already shown considerable versatility in his young career. When he played under Thiago Motta at Spezia, the man recently appointed as the new head coach at Juventus initially deployed him in midfield as a No 6, because he wanted the centre-back to see the pitch from a different perspective. Now, Kiwior has been granted another viewpoint on the game by Arteta.
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The hope is that these experiences will inform his development as a centre-back. Certainly, that is where the national team see him.
“We cannot adapt to what the coach does at the club,” said national manager Michal Probierz in March, when asked if he had considered fielding Kiwior as a full-back. “We have little time and we want to improve the current tactics.”
Poland typically line up with a back three; playing on the left side of that trio, Kiwior will doubtless benefit from his time spent in the left channel with Arsenal. But centre-back is where his future lies.
Despite being linked with a return to Italian football, his immediate focus is on earning more opportunities with Arsenal in his favoured position.
Kiwior is at the centre of Poland’s plans for these Euros.
His aspiration is to be viewed that way at Arsenal, too.
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(Top photo: Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)