The agent of former Spezia defender Jakub Kiwior confirms ‘Napoli, Milan and Juventus’ were all interested, but Arsenal were the only club ready to make the deal stick in January.
His performances for Spezia over 18 months earned him a place in Poland’s squad at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
That further raised his profile, eventually leading to a transfer from Spezia to Premier League leaders Arsenal at a cost of €25m plus bonuses.
“All the important Italian clubs other than Inter showed interest, including Napoli, Milan and Juventus,” agent Sasha Baranov told TV Play.
“However, with Napoli’s current situation, they didn’t need to change their team in January and wanted to continue talks in the summer. You all know what happened at Juventus, while Milan also waited, and you know what happens when the Premier League clubs come in.”
Juve were forced to reckon with a 15-point Serie A penalty and potentially more on the horizon, so were not active in the January market.
Arsenal swooped with a huge offer, considerably more than the Serie A sides would’ve made in six months’ time.
“When a side like Arsenal come along, it becomes difficult for a 22-year-old to say no. If it was Juventus or another big club coming in, it may well have been the same situation, but Arsenal are the only side who really pushed the talks forward.”
Baranov insists the negotiations were all very civilised and everyone was on the same page, so Kiwior was able to leave Spezia without controversy or tension in the January transfer window.
“We honestly didn’t expect it to all move so fast, we thought he would stay in January and leave Spezia in June. Arsenal came in and the player did not put pressure on his club, he just said that if the move was to happen, then good, otherwise he was happy to wait.”
The €25m plus bonuses sale was a huge profit on the €2.2m that Spezia spent to sign him from MSK Zilina in August 2021.