Agent Sasha Baranov has confirmed that AC Milan and Juventus both wanted his client Jakub Kiwior before he decided to move to Arsenal.
Milan were heavily linked with a move for Kiwior in the weeks leading up to the January transfer window and had even had chance to watch him up close on multiple occasions, however they missed out on yet another target.
Kiwior ended up joining Arsenal, with Di Marzio and Fabrizio Romano both reporting that the deal to join the current Premier League leaders Arsenal was worth €25m plus bonuses, a figure that the Rossoneri simply did not have in the winter window especially not as an up-front sum.
Now, Kiwior’s agent Sasha Baranov has spoken to TV Play after the defender’s transfer from Spezia to Arsenal, underlining that the Gunners weren’t the only big club interested in the Pole.
“In Italy all the important clubs except Inter expressed their interest, Napoli, Milan and Juventus. Due to the current situation, Napoli didn’t need to change the team in January, they wanted to postpone the matter to the summer. Juventus, you know what happened and Milan waited, then you know what happens when Premier League teams arrive,” he said (via Calciomercato.com).
“We thought the boy deserved an important team, with all due respect to Bologna, the player couldn’t go to a team like Bologna. When Arsenal come forward, it becomes difficult for a 22-year-old boy to say no. If it had been Juventus or another team it might have been the same, but Arsenal is the team that went further in the discussions.
“He didn’t think it would be that fast, I’m honest, we didn’t think he would leave in January, we were thinking from a summer perspective, thinking of staying at Spezia until June. Arsenal then arrived, the boy didn’t put pressure on, he said that if he could have done well otherwise he would have waited.”
