AC Milan are searching for a new defender ahead of the summer window opening and they believe Arsenal’s Jakub Kiwior could be the right profile, a report claims.
Milan conceded 49 goals in the league last season and 69 goals across all competitions, which has led to a rather predictable inquest into the defensive department and also a lot of speculation about who could arrive.
Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) has a segment dedicated to Milan’s pursuit of Kiwior this morning with the headline: ‘Milan, Kiwior is the solution for the defense’. Paulo Fonseca has asked for a reinforcement in defence, and the Pole ticks some boxes.
Why might he be the ideal man? Firstly, Milan have scouted him and admired him for some time given that he showed good signs as Spezia. His spell in Liguria also means that he already knows Serie A, and that would ease his adaptation.
The Poland international might also be a classic mercato opportunity because he is not finding much playing time at Arsenal (20 appearances in the last Premier League season, of which 11 were starts).
Moreover, Kiwior is currently involved in the European Championship and has so far played both of Poland’s matches against the Netherlands and Austria in full, which adds to the experience factor.
Finally, the Rossoneri like him because of his versatility, more specifically the fact that he can play as a centre-back on either side or as a left-back, given he is left-footed.
If he ain’t cheep he ain’t ideal. Maybe if they do some kind of discount
Firstly, because he’s not Italian.
“Milan conceded 49 goals in the league last season and 69 goals across all competitions, which has led to a rather predictable inquest into the defensive department and also a lot of speculation about who could arrive.”
I’m afraid it’s misguided and misplaced to think it’s the backline that needs the inquest and not the midfield. According to fbref our mids rank as some of the worst defensive midfielders in all of Europe. Only Bennacer sort of had an ok grade and he played like half the season. The centre backs at least rank in 80+ percentiles for defence. Most of our mids don’t even get past the 30th percentile for most defensive stats.
Given that our management was pursuing Fofana, Thuram and Rabiot, I sometimes doubt that they know what a defensive midfielder is actually is.
Well the media is probably shaping the hype and where we think Milan’s mind is placed. But where there’s smoke there’s fire usually. So our concentration so far on targets that don’t improve the part of the team that’s needed the most is worrysome. Imo we need at least two defensive minded mids with one or both being strict DMs. As a priority too over everything else incl striker tbh. But to your point while Rabiot and Thuram may improve our midfield we still need a strict DM, not just a more defensive minded mid
Sorry that was not a response to u Ibrahim but a standalone comment
No thanks, we need Italians