Polish Exodus To Turkey Continues. Grosicki Moves To Sivasspor.

January 11th, 2011 | by: tomasz |

Kamil Grosicki is one of the most talented young Polish players and it was certain that he’d move abroad sooner than later. However, I thought that he’d decide to fight for the Polish championship together with Jagiellonia and be sold after the 2010\2011 season. I also thought that he’d attract a more renowned club than the Turkish Sivasspor. Has Grosik finally matured enough to succeed abroad? I’m not entirely sure.

There are undeniable advantages of this transfer move. First of all, the Turkish league is much stronger than the Polish Ekstraklasa. Grosicki will be able to test his speed and dribbling abilities against such powerhouses as Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Besiktas, not to mention the champions from Bursaspor or the current leaders from Trabzonspor. These are definitely bigger challenges than the rivalry against Bełchatów, Arka or even Lech and Legia. Moreover, Sivasspor is a better organized club than Jagiellonia, with training facilities that the majority of Polish clubs can only be envious about. If Grosicki decides to work hard, and I want to believe he does, he will be provided with a perfect environment for development. This is also a move that may give Grosik a lot of exposure since the Süper Lig is more densely scouted than the Polish league. If our winger does well he may attract interest from the top local teams and it will be also easier for him to break through to top European leagues. Providing Grosicki succeeds, we’ll have a more internationally experienced and a more mature player for the national team. Finally, with players like the Brożek twins, Głowacki, Żewłakow, Kuś or Pawełek playing in Turkey nowadays I believe that Grosik won’t disappear from Franz Smuda’s radar. Our coach will have to keep up with the proceedings in Turkey, whether he wants it or not. Yes, this can be the move that will transform Grosicki from a local, Jagiellonia star into a respected player from a respected foreign league.

In spite of all this, I’m not entirely sure that Grosik has made the right choice. I worry because he didn’t seem entirely convinced about the idea of moving to Turkey. He preferred to move to Greece and play for Aris, but the offer from Sivasspor was better financially for Jagiellonia. He didn’t accept the conract from Turkey until he went there and received a first hand experience of the club. Even when he was in Sivasspor Grosicki told the journalists that he was still undecided and that nothing was certain. Later on he claimed that ’some people from Jagiellonia’ were pushing him out of the club and that they were more determined to complete the transfer than him. In the end, it seems like Grosicki agreed to move because he felt a pressure to do so, not because he wanted to. Now the pressure will be even bigger since Sivasspor is 15th in the table and will fight to avoid relegation in the remainder of the season. The problem with Grosik is that he played well where he felt at home, in his hometown of Szczecin or in Białystok were he was given a parental care by the club’s president Cezary Kulesza. When Grosicki moved on a bigger stage, with more pressure, he failed. At Legia he was unable to resist the attractions of a big city and blew money on gambling. In Sion he was unable to get used to Western, professional approach to football. In both cases, he felt out of place there. His success in Turkey may not depend on his football skills, he’s got them no doubt, but on how fast and whether he’ll adapt to a new lifestyle and different playing conditions. Is Grosicki mature enough? We are to learn in the next couple of months.

Other news: Marcin Robak is close to becoming yet another Polish player in Turkey. His move to Konyaspor is to be finalized in the next couple of days. This is a good move for Widzew in financial terms (1M€) and a one that will give Robak a chance to prove himself on a bigger stage. There is an outside chance that he develops into a decent player.

Lech Poznań remain interested in Rafał Murawski and may even spend as much as 1M€ on the transfer. I’m against this move, but it seems that Muraś is really determined to return (or Rubin is really determined to let him go). Better Lech than Polonia Warsaw, which is also interested in the defensive midfielder. Lech is also ready to spend a similar amount of money on Deivydas Sernas, but this move may be cancelled due to Robak’s transfer to Turkey. Widzew doesn’t want to sell both their star strikers.

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By Maciej | January 11th, 2011 at 5:14 pm

Grosicki will be back playing in the EK in under a year. Tomasz’s article underlines his mental fragility, and the fact that he didn’t want to play in Turkey will simply speed up the failure.

I could be wrong, but there are so many examples over the years of Polish players leaving for money and rotting their careers away.

Posted from Canada

By msudzi | January 11th, 2011 at 6:23 pm

If he plays hard for his team and gets results they will treat him like the Sultan there as well. Bottom line is he is a professinal and is getting payed good money to play soccer and get better for our euro campaign. What is JAg thinking there best player is 35 years old and they push there talented young one out. IT is now or never for them they cant’ think of tomarrow.

Posted from United States

By Timmy | January 11th, 2011 at 8:38 pm

I’ll have to agree with Maciej here, I wouldnt be surprised to see Grosicki back in the EK by the next winter transfer window, the fact that so much pressure is being put on him to help spare his team from relegation and to perform well before Euro 2012 makes this a strange situation. He didnt want to move in the first place and the fact that Jaga are doing so great and have a shot at winning the EK helped Grosicki with his confidence, I bet if he kept up his form until the spring he would have more lucrative offers from better, well-known teams around europe.

I could be wrong, who knows, what if Sivasspor go on to having a great second year, with Grosicki being productive? Long shot but by the looks of it he may be another victim of what has happened in the past. Young talented Polish players down the drain because of polish football corruption.

By tomasz | January 12th, 2011 at 5:08 am

@MarcinO
It’s a big problem nowadays that clubs don’t want to sell their best players to the rival Ekstraklasa clubs. It’s because more and more clubs are in good financial condition and have become more ambitious through the years. Clubs like Śląsk, Polonia, Lechia or even Zagłębie would like to compete with the best on equal terms sooner than later. The times when top two clubs (Legia and Wisła) collected the best Polish players are long gone. It’s best visible in the proposed transfer of Pawłowski to Lech; Zagłębie president basically said that Kolejorz can offer whatever they want and he won’t let his player go. At the same time, he offered him a new contract as he can afford paying for 2-3 stars in the team. Lech wanted both Sobiech and Sadlok, but couldn’t afford them and they went to Polonia, the club that is overpaying for the players they purchase. Now Lech has to offer similar money for Sernas (1M), otherwise Widzew wouldn’t even consider letting him go. On the other hand, it’s no surprising that some clubs prefer to wait for offers from abroad. No Polish clubs would be able to pay the same money and contracts to Brożek twins (2,2M), Głowacki (more than 1M), Grosicki (around 1M) and now possibly Robak (around 1M). Sometimes, however, this dreamt of offer never comes and guys like D.Nowak, Cetnarski or Pawłowski waste their promising careers at average clubs.

By msudzi | January 16th, 2011 at 5:29 pm

I just checked out the roster in Sivappor and they have serveral Slavic players two starters from Chech. So maybe the language barrior and pace of life can be made easier to help you get used to things abroad.

Posted from United States

By Kuba | January 17th, 2011 at 7:53 pm

I wish there was more articles here, 1 every week is nothin, shit changes so much.

By Daniel | January 17th, 2011 at 8:43 pm

Some people have live’s and dont have time to write articles more then once a week so dont complain, there are other sources were u can find polish football information.

By paradowski | January 17th, 2011 at 10:57 pm

interesting transfers — looks like we’ll be following Turkey’s Superliga a bit more now. Kamil Grosicki as a good opportunity to develop if he focuses and takes advantage of his new environment in positive ways.

^ Kuba, …like your enthusiasm for more; just not too much happening at the moment. I hope tomasz is getting a nice break before things heat up again. We here can always discuss issues in the interim if you have things to bring up.

Posted from United States

By Radek | January 18th, 2011 at 10:46 am

Matusiak was just transefered from Cracovia to a lower table Greek team, which is going to be fighting against relegation. Not sure if this is a good move.

Posted from Canada

By JZ | January 18th, 2011 at 1:45 pm

Radek – not sure what you mean when you say Matusiak’s move to the Greek league is a bad move.
How is moving from Cracovia who is guaranteed a one way ticket to the Polish second division a bad move. He is moving from the EK to a better Greek Super league.
Asteras sit 13th. The Super League has 16 teams so I believe 15 & 16 are automatically relegated & 14 is in a playoff with a second division team.
You are correct Asteras will have to fight to stay in the first division but their chances look pretty good compared to Cracovia’s.

By marcin | January 18th, 2011 at 3:23 pm

He means he would rather have him move to a team thats not fighting relegation.

By Mateusz | January 19th, 2011 at 4:26 pm

Grosicki is changing clubs for the wrong reasons. Money is nice but at the end of the day you will be spending the next 2-3 years of your life in a club you did not pick, in a country you dont want to live in. It seemed he had problems in the past so what will ensure his success this time around? Dont get me wrong Turkey has some very strong clubs but if he waited a season he counld have had a chance at the title and possible better transfer offers. After all only time will tell wether this was a good move and in the end he may develop and move to even a bigger club in the future. I just hope he makes some imporvement quickly so he can be a first team contender for EURO2012.

Posted from United States

By Timmy | January 20th, 2011 at 6:38 am

I dont know if anyone heard but Maciej Iwanski moved to Maniaspor of the turkish super lig, they are in 12th place right now………whats with all the polaks going to Turkey ?

By Radek | January 20th, 2011 at 12:49 pm

You are right JZ, but it just would have been nicer to see him move to a stronger club, but it is still a better option than staying at Cracovia which will be relegated.

I guess we will have to start looking for internet broadcasts of the Turkish League matches, not sure if ATDHE.NET have them. I know that in Canada we don’t get any Turkish League matches on TV (GolTV, FoxSports, TSN, Sportsnet).

Posted from Canada

By JZ | January 20th, 2011 at 1:39 pm

Radek – I did not think Matusiak had other offers (especially from bigger clubs) so I took it as Cracovia vs Asteras. I think he got lucky by moving to Greece because he has not been himself since the Palermo move.

It is reported that Kokoszka will join Polonia Warszawa for the rest of this season. He will have to fight Dariusz Pietrasiak, Tomasz Jodlowiec, Tomasz Brzyski and Maciej Sadlok for the starting job.
It will be interesting to see how a Serie B bench warmer compares to the defensive stars of the EK – mainly Jodlowiec & Sadlok.

See link:
http://polandsoccer.blogspot.com/2011/01/kokoszka-returns-to-poland.html#comments

By Radek | January 21st, 2011 at 2:27 pm

So Janczyk is still looking for a club, now he is training with some Russian club. Why doesn’t Lech make a move to get him?

Posted from Canada

By paradowski | January 22nd, 2011 at 2:35 pm

FC Köln win 3:0 with Peszko playing most of game – sub at 85′. Matuszczyk scored goal at 33′ (and Podolski with 2 goals).

Posted from United States

By Timmy | January 22nd, 2011 at 2:41 pm

ya Peszko had a brilliant game, same with Matuszczyk, btw is tomasz on vacation or something?

By paradowski | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:39 pm

Matuszczk’s was a real nice goal and moves splitting through defenders: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgooz0_kol-wer-goals-www-rojadirecta-org

Posted from United States

By Radek | January 24th, 2011 at 12:44 am

nice goal indeed, and nice assist by Peszko, just when you think he should have scored but didn’t and will miss a chance, he backpasses to Podolski, hehehe. Good for him! I was a bit disappointed with Lewandowski in the Dortmund match on Saturday, missed a couple easy tap in goals, which could have been a winning goal.

By Radek | January 24th, 2011 at 12:48 am

Bad ratings for the Polish connection in Borussia :
http://www.goal.com/en/match/48135/borussia-vs-vfb-stuttgart/report

By Radek | January 24th, 2011 at 12:52 am

Sorry for the 3rd post in a row, but I couldn’t resist this one, a new nickname for Lewandowski, after his worst match yet at Borussia, the German media are calling him Lewandoofski. hahahaha
http://sport.onet.pl/pilka-nozna/polacy-za-granica/bundesliga-na-polakow-spadla-fala-krytyki,1,4119630,wiadomosc.html

By tomasz | January 24th, 2011 at 4:58 am

Great goal from Matuszczyk, good assist from Peszko and poor game from our Dortmund trio. Lewy really should have converted his chance. Turkish league looks more and more interesting for Polish fans: Grosicki, Pawełek and Robak earned their debuts yesterday. Brożek twins have to wait as they’ve missed too much training since the end of Ekstraklasa term. Nice to see Głowacki back in Trabzon’s lineup. Błażej Augustyn also returned after injury for Catania, though the new coach Diego Simeone didn’t include him in the match squad at the weekend. Kamil Glik starts each game for Bari, but receives rather poor reviews. Well, maybe he just has to get used to the speed of Serie A (or maybe he’s just too poor).

The transfer of Murawski back to Poland turned out to be a bluff from Muraś’ manager, at least according to Polonia’s owner Józef Wojciechowski. Lech, on the other hand, maintain that they continue negotiations with Rubin. Matusiak moved to Greece, but didn’t have much choice as he wasn’t even allowed to train with Młoda Ekstraklasa team at Cracovia (conflict with the owner). All in all, the whole commotion ended well for him, at least in financial terms. Iwański just signed a contract with Manisaspor, maybe this move will make him develop as a player, though I’m not very hopeful in this case. Janusz Gol is still choosing between Bełchatów, Legia and Lech. I hope he chooses to go forward rather than stagnate at his former team. Szymon Pawłowski signed a contract with Zagłębie, a sign that he’s happy to be a star of an average team. Wołąkiewicz joined Lech as Lechia agreed to sell him half a year before his contract runs out.

Sorry that I haven’t been posting recently. I twisted my knee (those damned icy pavements) and spent majority of free time on rahabilitation. Plus, there wasn’t anything spectacular happening that made me write a note. Tomorrow Smuda is about to give his call ups for the upcoming friendlies and I will definitely comment on that. There are rumours that Grzegorz Krychowiak may be picked.

Posted from Poland

By M. Zurawski | January 24th, 2011 at 5:29 am

Hope your knee is feeling better Tomasz. Nice to hear from you again.

Posted from Germany

By Radek | January 24th, 2011 at 12:48 pm

Good luck with your knee!

Looking at the news coming out of Poland today, seems like its official now that Murawski was released by Rubin Kazan and is now a Lech Poznan player. However, he will not be allowed to play for Lech in the Europa League as Rubin is also in the Europa League. I am still not too convinced about Lech’s chances against Braga in the Europa League.

Posted from Canada

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