Here We Go. First Transfer Rumours.

Majewski to West Brom? Lewandowski to Celtic? Roger to Ajax? Dudka to Napoli? Kokoszka to Torino? We’re very near to the opening of a transfer window and more and more Polish players are being transfered by the press. Here’s an overlook of most interesting rumours.

Let’s begin with confirmed rumours. West Brom had made an official offer for the most talented young Polish playmaker Radoslaw Majewski from Groclin Grodzisk. However, if they want to buy him they must increase their offer, at least according to Groclin’s sporting director Tadeusz Fajfer. Groclin’s evaluation of Majewski is 2.3M £. I really hope they let him go, especially after Groclin resigned from UEFA Cup participation. What else can Maja learn in Poland? How much can he progress playing for an audience of a thousand in Grodzisk? He’s young and he can still switch to a fast pace of Premiership football. Moreover, if West Brom really spend more than 2M £ on him, he’ll certainly be given a lot of playing time in the first team. I don’t believe in West Brom spending this amount of money and then putting Majewski in the reserves team (as is the case with other Poles who left for England as youngsters: Fojut, Cywka or Kupisz). Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the deal goes through.

Shakhtar Donetsk have confirmed that they received an official enquiry about Mariusz Lewandowski from Celtic Glasgow. The news that Celtic is interested in Lewy was reported yesterday. Lewandowski said that he would very much like to join the Bhoys, the only problem is if they have enough money to buy him out of Ukraine. Shakhtar is a rich club and doesn’t need to sell their players; it’s rumoured that they’ll want something around 5M for Lewandowski. It’s definetely too much for Celtic. On the other hand, Lewy said that Shakhtar owes him something after all the years he’s played for them. For me, Celtic is a perfect club for Lewy, who is a tough player, but at the same time skillful enough for SPL (and I’m a Celtic fan, which is probably the most important reason). Celtic has some problems with defensive midfielders (Donati, Sno, Gravesen) so this move looks probable. It is also reported that clubs like Fulham, Middlesbrough or Everton are interested in Lewy’s signature.

Roger Guerreiro impressed many football scouts during the Euros and he’s now supposed to have many interesting options to choose from. Press mentions interest from Ajax, Dortmund and Marseille. It’s still too early to confirm any of those options; what we can confirm, however, is the fact that Legia Warsaw are ready to sell Roger. They already bought Maciej Iwanski, one of Polish league’s top playmakers, to make up for the expected loss of Rogerski. However, their price tag of 5M is a bit too high as far as I’m concerned. Personally, I think a club like Ajax, or other top club ouside the top three European leagues, is the best choice for Roger. I don’t know if he’s physically ready to compete in Premiership or Bundesliga. There’ll still be a lot of clubs linked with Roger so we just have to wait and see. It’s definetely high time for him to leave Legia.

Napoli is a second Italian club, after Lazio, reported to be interested in Dariusz Dudka. Serie A clubs have been scouting Dudka for a long time now; I remember a loan offer from Udinese just half a year ago. However, today we learn that Lazio and Napoli are no more in the running and that it is Auxerre that is most determined to acquire Dudka. They already wanted to buy him a year ago and now decided that the time is right to repeat the offer. Personally, I think a transfer to any of those clubs would be a huge step forward for Dariusz. In my opinion, it’s his versatility (he can play everywher in defense and as a defensive midfielder) that attracts foreign clubs. However, there’s still no mention of an official offer. Still, Dudka wants out, Wisla are ready to sell him, consequently we should see Dariusz in a different jersey next season.

Adam Kokoszka, one of the most talented Polish defenders, was supposedly on AC Torino’s wish list. Moreover, some journalists wrote that he’s about to use the new Webster’s rulling in order to lower a price tag. Kokoszka denied Torino’s interest himself, but at the same time he didn’t deny the will to leave Wisla on Webster rulling. Kokos is to inform the press when an interesting offer occurs. As much as I would like Wisla to be a strong team before Champions League qualifiers, I understand Kokos’ actions. He won’t get much playing time as long as Glowacki and Cleber, considered best central defenders in Poland, stay in Krakow. I don’t think he has time to wait until Cleber retires. Ideally, Kokoszka will be transferred abroad to a club where he gets much playing time (I know, wishful thinking).

I also read an article today about Betis Sevilla being interested in Przemyslaw Kazmierczak. It’s hard to believe that such a club would be interested in Kaz after he couldn’t win a place in FC Porto. At the same time, it seems more and more obvious that Kaz will leave Porto in search of regular football. Paok Thessaloniki and Vitoria Guimaraes have already been mentioned as possible destinations.

To end it all, a transfer that is already confirmed. Last season’s Polish league second top goalscorer, Adrian Sikora, signed a contract with Real Murcia, a club that was relegated from Primera Division last season. Even though he’s 28, that’s a first serious challenge in Sikora’s career. I’m really curious how he’ll do and if his speed and an ability to play on an offside line will be enough to succeed in Spain.

That’s the first portion of transfer rumours. I expect some gossip about Artur Boruc, Pawel Golanski and Pawel Brozek to emerge in next weeks. Where would you see our players?