Arsenal: Krystian Bielik at definitive level of his career

Arsenal has agreed to send Krystian Bielik out on loan to Norwich City, making this coming campaign the corner stone of the Polish defender’s future.

When Arsenal landed Krystian Bielik, there was quite a bit of hubbub surrounding him for one key reason. It’s not that that many people had heard of him or knew how talented he was. It was because Arsene Wenger had two consecutive bids rejected before agreeing to a fee.

When is the last time Wenger has failed to land a guy twice and then lands him the third time? There must have been something very special about the young Pole. Otherwise he would have taken that first rejection and gone off to find another teenager who could be purchased for a couple million.

In the end, a fee was agreed and Bielik came to Arsenal as some sort of defender, we weren’t sure what kind.

We haven’t seen much of him, but there was one appearance in particular that stood out. It was that horrific 3-0 League Cup loss when the subs came in as a sign of defeat. Yet it was Bielik, a sub, who shined in a midfield role, asking for the ball at every possible opportunity and showing a true desire to be out there.

Since then he has been moved (seemingly permanently) to a center back role, where he has stood strong in his youth career with the Gunners.

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But now he is being sent out on loan to Norwich City to try his merit against the Championship Division. And while he spent a short period of time with Birmingham City, this is different. This is a year with a team pushing for promotion.

This is it, the moment when he gets a true taste of the gritty competition he will be facing every weekend for the rest of his career (ideally). It is also the point where we learn if the guy is up to snuff. We have seen young players fail at this level.

Chuba Akpom is perpetually stuck here, for instance. And granted, injuries have not been kind to him, but still, it’s not like he has been devoid of opportunities.

Daniel Crowley completely derailed at this level. Proved he wasn’t up to it.

This is the biggest year of Bielik’s young career. Norwich City is a proud club, a good club. Bielik will have his chances to establish himself as an up and coming young defender.

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And while I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, consider this – Bielik cost more money than the golden boy Rob Holding. So there is always that.

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