Krystian Bielik is Arsenal’s “11th choice” centre-back, according to a Polish article on the player.
The article on SportoweFakty claims that Bielik has no chance of playing once the season gets underway.
Bielik showed promise on the Gunners’ recent pre-season tour, looking as confident as ever, but was then left out of the Emirates Cup squad.
SportoweFakty claim that this shows he won’t be given a chance in the Premier League, although the truth is probably that Wenger preferred to give Bielik a full run out in the match against Boreham Wood on Thursday, as he tested the last couple of defensive options ahead of the Community Shield match.
It’s also claimed that Bielik is the “11th choice” of Arsène Wenger at centre-back, which is certainly an exaggeration.
Mustafi, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal and Koscielny are all certainly ahead of the youngster, but players like Holding and Chambers probably aren’t far off Krystian, and the others listed (Elneny, Coquelin and Maitland-Niles) probably won’t play a single game at centre-back when the competitive matches start. Barring an injury catastrophe which is, as always at Arsenal, a real possibility.
Still, it’s true that Bielik isn’t at the top of the pecking order, and so it may be in his best interests to look at going on another loan, rather than waiting for the League Cup matches to come around, especially after his loan to Birmingham went so well. The Pole has been linked with Norwich City in recent weeks, but so far nothing concrete has been agreed.
Bielik said in an interview we covered last season that he’d love to stay longer in the division, and this is probably the best way for him to grow as a player.
The other appealing option would be a Premier League loan if that becomes a possibility, as long as he could get game time guarantees.