Kiwior returns to England as the new blue and white wall 🧱 | OneFootball

Some players take time to establish themselves; others stand out in a discreet yet extraordinarily effective way – Jakub Kiwior belongs to this second group. Since joining FC Porto in the last summer transfer window, the Polish center-back has been almost a lucky charm at the back, as the numbers show: six games and zero goals conceded. Nacional, Rio Ave, Salzburg, Arouca, Benfica, and Celoricense make up the six chapters of this sequence that has yet to taste the bitter flavor of the ball in the net. The Porto reinforcement now wants to help the team add Nottingham Forest to that list, already on Thursday.

Signed on loan from Arsenal, in a deal with a buy-and-sell clause, Kiwior has rediscovered in Portugal the prominence that seemed to elude him in London. At the Dragão, he has become the symbol of a wall built around Diogo Costa and, coincidence or not, FC Porto has only conceded goals this season against Sporting and Red Star – precisely in matches where the Pole was not an option, for different reasons.

Now comes the most exciting challenge of his career: the trip to Nottingham Forest’s ground. For the first time since signing for the Dragons, Kiwior returns to England – the country where he spent the last three seasons with Arsenal – and the mission is clear: to extend the run of games without conceding for a defense that seems to have found its new pillar in him.

Portuguese popular wisdom says that “the forbidden fruit is the most desired.” And, in FC Porto’s case, Kiwior has been that forbidden fruit for opponents, as no one has managed to taste the flavor of a goal when he is on the pitch. The 25-year-old Polish international has yet to open his goal tally in the blue and white shirt, but he prevents opponents from doing so – and it’s in that balance that Francesco Farioli bases his ambition to aim even higher, both in Liga Portugal Betclic and the Europa League.

“I don’t think I’ve taken a step back. FC Porto has a lot in common with Arsenal, they are big clubs, with great aspirations, fantastic fans, stadiums, and history,” said Kiwior, shortly after signing for the Dragons. If he keeps a clean sheet in Nottingham, the perception in English football will reinforce the idea that they lost a top-class center-back.

Kiwior and Bednarek are inseparable: the two Polish internationals always arrive together at Olival, share breakfast, and stay close during training, just as they do in FC Porto and Poland national team matches. Moreover, both played in England in recent seasons and have sometimes struggled in encounters with Nottingham Forest, whom they now visit as FC Porto players in the Europa League. With Arsenal, Kiwior has two wins and one loss against that English team. Bednarek, meanwhile, with Southampton, has three defeats, although he did score at the City Ground when Forest was still managed by Nuno Espírito Santo.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.