Murawski Switches To Lech After All.

January 24th, 2011 | by: tomasz | Comments(5)

The transfer that seemed to have died out was finally confirmed today by the Lech Poznań officials. Rafał Murawski, our starting central midfielder, returns to Poland after spending two years in Kazan playing for the local Rubin. This comes as a great news for the Kolejorz and Ekstraklasa fans, especially after an exodus of many talented players in the January transfer window, but is a worrying piece of information for those who value the success of the national team the most. Will Muraś be able to prepare well for the Euros? To put it another way, will he maintain his level of performance (he was very reliable in national team lately) when not being forced to fight hard for the place in the squad on a club level? Tough nut to crack.

It’s hard to judge Murawski’s career at Rubin. It definitely wasn’t an utter failure as he played rather regularly, both in the Russian league and the Champions League. He helped his new team win the championship title in 2009 and it looked as if he’s got quite a strong position in the team. On the other hand, he’s never really done anything spectacular at Rubin, he’s never impressed the specialists, in Russia and Europe alike. He was just one of the many players at Rubin, useful but never even close to being a star of the team. Generally, if a club like the one from Kazan wants to make a huge step forward in European football it won’t make it with players of Murawski’s calibre. This thought was probably shared by the Rubin officials as they let Muraś go back to Lech for third of the price they paid for him in early 2009. This only shows that Murawski, though not a failure, wasn’t a huge success story in Russia.

Nevertheless, I’ve had a feeling during the national team games that Muraś developed as a player. He was given a very important role in the team by Smuda and, though never breathtaking, he was a very reliable player and, no doubt, became one of the leaders of the team. He seemed far more confident, both mentally and on the ball, than he was before he left the Ekstraklasa. He matured as a player and stopped hiding behind other teammates’ backs. This was surely due to his exposure to international football and fierce competition, both against opposing teams (Russian is far better league than Polish) and for the place in Rubin’s lineup. Now, Murawski comes back to Poland as a star and one of the highest transfers ever (could be the highest in Lech’s history). He’s better than the vast majority of midfielders in the Ekstraklasa and may easily become one of the top league players. In my opinion, he comes back as a better player. The bothering question is, however, whether Murawski will have enough motivation in Poland to keep his form intact. Let’s face it, he can probably shine in the Ekstraklasa when playing to the 70-80% of his potential. In the national team, we need Muraś giving more than 100% and we need him being used to it on everyday basis. A crucial player in Smuda’s strategy can’t play ten important games a year, he must play thirty. Ideally, 90% of our starting lineup at Euro will be composed of players outside of the Ekstraklasa, the ones used to fast pace football. I just hope that Murawski won’t forget what he’s learnt in Russia in the next 500 days.

Ps: Murawski won’t be able to play for Lech in the Europa League as he already played in European competition for Rubin.

Highlights:

Great goal by Matuszczyk

And Peszko’s first assist

Kamil Grosicki’s Sivasspor debut highlights