Martin Odegaard buzzing over what £58k-a-week Arsenal talent has done

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Arsenal gave their fans a European night to remember on Tuesday as they overcame Porto on penalties to reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

While most of the Gunners players impressed on Tuesday night, Jakub Kiwior will have been especially proud of his display.

The 24-year-old has come such a long way at Arsenal. Last year he was struggling to find his feet at the Emirates and questions were asked of his suitability for the club.

However, Kiwior is now fully up and running at Arsenal now he’s had more time to get accustomed to the team’s playing style and is no longer being asked to invert.

The Poland international appears to have cemented his place at left-back in the Gunners’ starting XI. And he certainly repaid Mikel Arteta’s faith in him against Porto.

‘Perhaps an unexpected pick given [Oleksandr] Zinchenko’s availability but justified his selection massively,’ wrote football.london, who gave him 8 out of 10.

‘Great one-vs-one defending particularly in the second half where he was unbeatable.’

Kiwior duly received his proverbial flowers as fans and peers flocked to his post-match Instagram post, in which he shared pictures of himself and teammates from the game.

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard responded with emojis of applause, a flexing bicep, and a red heart.

Jakub Kiwior simply needed time to acclimatise at Arsenal

Kiwior’s upward trajectory just goes to show that there’s no point writing a player off so soon after he joins.

Indeed, it’s not unusual to see some players take a whole season to acclimatise to a new club and league.

Darwin Nunez at Liverpool is probably the most high-profile example at present.

His maiden season at Anfield wasn’t amazing, but now he’s absolutely devastating and is getting goals and assists too.

This seems to be the case with Kiwior too. Now he’s fully up and running, it’ll be exciting to see how he continues to develop at Arsenal.

And the way he’s going, surely it won’t be long before he gets rewarded with a pay rise on his reported £58,000-a-week deal.