Another fringe player at Arsenal has departed the wage bill - at least for the season, with Krystian Bielik joining Charlton Athletic for the duration of the season.
The Polish defender was one of the names omitted from our squad that travelled to Singapore in pre-season, along with Carl Jenkinson, Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Chuba Akpom, and all of them bar Jenkinson have now departed the club - Reine-Adelaide has joined last season’s loan destination of Angers on a permanent transfer, with Akpom also signing a permanent deal, with his destination being PAOK Salonika in Greece.
Bielik must harbour some hope of making it through to the Arsenal first team - with new recruit Sokratis entering his thirties and Laurent Koscielny already 32. If his loan club stature is anything to go by however, then he still has some way to go.
If Bielik was anywhere near the finished article, then a move to a Championship club would have been on the cards, better yet, a promoted club in the Premier League. With the Addicks in League One though, it shows that Bielik has some learning to do before thinking of the Premier League.
Bielik has always impressed in the fleeting moments we have seen him - most of them in pre-season tours. The Poland youth international joined us back in 2015 and has appeared for the first team, but last season’s loan at Birmingham City didn’t go well, with Bielik making only 10 appearances, before moving to Walsall mid-season - only for injury to curtail his time with the Saddlers.
This season must go well for Bielik. An injury free campaign and regular first team appearances are the only way he will save his fledgling Gunners career.
This loan move is yet another manoeuvre that sees us save a bit of cash on the wage bill by chopping the extraneous names from the squad. Carl Jenkinson would have been another loanee most likely, but injury will most likely put off any potential suitors.
