According to a tweet from Czeslaw Michniewicz (below), Poland’s Under-21 coach, Middlesbrough are showing interest in Arsenal’s giant Polish defender Kristian Bielik.
20-year-old Bielik arrived at North London side Arsenal in late January 2015, arriving as a 17-year-old from Legia Warsaw for a fee believed to be in the region of £2million. In his time at the club, the youngster has made just two first-team appearances, both of these coming in the EFL Cup vs Sheffield Wednesday (30′ in 2015) and Nottingham Forest (3′ in 2016).
He does, however, have a lot of experience coming up through the age groups at The Emirates, with 11 UEFA Under-19 appearances and 42 Premier League 2 appearances for Arsenal’s Under-23s. It will be this level of experience that Middlesbrough will be looking to tap into according to Michniewicz:
Bardzo wysoko oceniony przez będącego na meczu scouta Middlesbrough
— Czesław Michniewicz (@czesmich) August 13, 2018
In the above tweet Michniewicz confirms, in reply to @SkauciUK, who is the UK talent coordinator for the Polish FA, that Bielek was being watched by Midddlesbrough. He says that the youngster was: “very highly rated” in the game between Arsenal and Manchester City Under-23s by the Middlesbrough scout.
Bielik has experience of the Football League courtesy of two half-season loan deals with Birmingham City (Jan-May 2017 – 10 appearances) and Walsall (Jan-May 2018 – no appearances).
Should Middlesbrough bring in the young Polish central defender, he would help create a formidable partner with recent £7million purchase Aden Flint, both of them being 6ft 5in tall. Poland Under-21 coach Michniewicz doesn’t indicate whether Boro’s scout was there looking at a permanent or loan deal for the highly thought of Bielik, all he indicates is that the Teessiders are interested.
