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Polish Transfer Window Update.

July 10th, 2009 | By: tomasz | 37 Comments »

The transfer window. It’s a time when dozens of Polish players go abroad and change the clubs for better ones. Or at least that’s how I would like to see it. Unfortunately, Poles are not up there with the most respected footballers and it’s hard to expect any major transactions on the local market. However, there are some that may draw your interest.

First of all, I would like to apologize for the lack of new notes lately. I’ve been fighting hard to acquire a master’s degree in American literature (I succeeded) and then I went to Gdynia to participate in the Opener Festival (Faith No More!!!). Now I’m recovering from the frenzy that the last month was and I finally found time to write something. The transfer season has just started, but it still managed to bring about a few interesting transactions:

Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan-Rubin Kazan): a lot of people are scepctical about this move. Until now Polish players struggled to achieve success in Russia. Dawid Janczyk has to be considered a failure at CSKA Moscow, Damian Gorawski lost his place in the national team after moving to FC Moscow and Grzegorz Piechna lost his career after a move to Torpedo Moscow. Marcin Kus, who played alongside Piechna, had to return to Poland in order to get any playing time. Mariusz Jop spent five years at FC Moscow, half of them on the bench. Finally, after a good start Marcin Kowalczyk is slowly losing a strong position at Dynamo Moscow. So what’s good in Muras’ move? First of all, Rubin is a much stronger club than Lech. They will play in the Champions League and have such renowned players as Cesar Navas, Sergey Semak, Sergey Rebrov or Gokdeniz Karadeniz in their squad. It’s a big chance for Muras to play on the highest possible European level for the first time in his life. Secondly, I very much trust in Rubin’s officials intelligence. Why would they buy a 28 year old midfielder if they didn’t have a place for him in the squad? Muras is not a youngster like Janczyk, he’s not a one for the future, he’s there to play right here, right now. Rubin’s scouts have watched Murawski for a long time and I trust that they know how to utilize him best. I think Muras is an experienced enough player to succeed. It’s only a shame that we won’t be able to watch his performances regularly somewhere in Germany or Spain.

Murawski’s transfer also means that no other top Lech player (Stilic, Rengifo, R.Lewandowski) will leave the club this summer. Hence Dortmund’s offer for the young Lewy was rejected.

Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld-Hertha Berlin): this move shows how respected a figure Wichniar is in Germany. He had no trouble finding a new employer after Bielefeld got relegated. This is going to be his second spell at Hertha, the first one was a disaster (4 goals in 2,5 years). However, this time things may look differently as Konig Artur was brought to replace Marko Pantelic and Andrey Woronin and he’ll certainly get enough playing time to prove his worth, that is score goals. He’s a much more experienced player which should also act as his advantage. I have a feeling that Wichniar may easily reach the ten goals mark, he’ll surely have more scoring chances than in Bielefeld. He started on a good note, scoring twice in Hertha’s last friendly.

Dawid Kucharski (Lech Poznan-Hearts of Midlothian): interestingly, Lech’s backup defender managed to attract the attention of one of the top SPL clubs. As far as I know, there are at least ten new players at Hearts each transfer window so it’s hard to say if Kucharski was their “go to guy”. Arkadiusz Klimek failed at this club before, whereas Adrian Mrowiec is a backup defender there. If Kucharski does well he may earn a transfer to Celtic, Rangers or a good Championship club.

Marcin Mieciel (Bochum-Legia Warsaw): the most interesting return to Poland. Mietowy was always a player of big potential, shame he never fully realized it. Nevertheless, a player with Iraklis, PAOK and Bochum in his CV should easily become one of the brightest stars of the Ekstraklasa. Expect more goals of this kind from the “overhead kick” man:

Maciej Malkowski (Odra Wodzislaw-GKS Belchatow): a player that Leo has an eye on changes club for a better. I’m totally not convinced by him.

Moves that won’t happen: Robert Lewandowski won’t move to Dortmund as Lech doesn’t need to sell any more players. Pawel Brozek’s speculated transfer to Fulham is far from being finalized, especially after Broziu will have been cup-bound next week after CL qualifiers. I think that’s good news; as Tomasz Frankowski said: “To play in the Premiership a striker must be both fast and powerful. Brozek is only fast”. I prefer Broziu to lead the Biala Gwiazda to the Champions League. Mariusz Jop was released by FC Moscow, but didn’t sign a contract with Wisla Krakow. Some say he’s got serious injury problems.

That’s for now, I hope there are still some interesting moves in the making. Thanks Zaraza for info on Janota, Wojciechowski and Krychowiak. I think it’s high time for them to start playing regularly, even if not for their current clubs. A loan move to Poland may be a good idea, just look how Kamil Glik flourished last season (Krzysztof Krol was also more than decent).

Tags: Bielefeld, Group A, Hertha, Kucharski, Lech. Rubin, malkowski, Moeciel, Murawski, Poland, Wichniarek

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 37 comments.

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By Rydzynski | July 12th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

I agree, the Polish national team should not become the United Nations of international football!!! I think its great that Obraniak wants to embrace his Polish blood, and with one Brazilian on the team already I think that is quite enough. Don’t choose Poland just because you can’t get called up by your own country.

By Hieronim | July 12th, 2009 at 3:41 pm

@ Les
Hermani has been living in Poland for 6 years, is fluent in the language, and is married to a Polish wife. He is applying for citizenship of Poland, which would entitle him to being called up if he was good enough. When he has kids with his wife, they will be Polish not only in name but in blood too. Why shouldn’t someone who has embraced our culture and adopted it not be able to play for our NT? He is far more deserving of the chance than Guerreiro was. “But not the likes of Hermani!”- what a joke. He is the perfect example of a naturalized citizen. If he’s good enough, he should get the chance to play.

By a | July 12th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

adas, I am positive that in his head Przemysław Kazimierczak is the best footballer. However, it does looks like some douchebag updated that.

By zaraza | July 12th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

I’d prefer to see players have blood ties to Poland but I can accept foreigners if they’re genuinely integrated into / have accepted Polish culture and values (ie. they’re not trying to turn Poland into Eurabia like they’ve already done with most western European countries).

Posted from Canada

By adas | July 12th, 2009 at 9:10 pm

a, I got that. I was trying to make a joke, and apparantly I failed. That’s the problem with Wikipedia.

zaraza, isn’t that the case with hernani? Isn’t he assimilating into Polish culture and everything? I thought his situation was different than Roger’s. If I’m wrong, sorry. But like I said before, this blog is the best source of Polish football I have.

By zaraza | July 12th, 2009 at 10:01 pm

adas, I don’t know anything about him but from other people’s comments, it appears that he is indeed assimilating. If that’s the case, I don’t have a major problem with him playing for us.
But is he good enough? He’s been playing lately in the Polish second division…

Posted from Canada

By adas | July 13th, 2009 at 10:49 am

That’s the thing. Even if he gets Polish citizenship, it doesn’t mean that he has to get a call up. It just makes him like every other Polish citizen, eligible. I’m concerned that most people are looking at the PZPN as though they have no idea what they’re doing. Clearly the problem with Polish football goes all the way down to the players. Everyone can name their starting 11, but our best squad just doesn’t seem to be playing well together. I’m not saying that the PZPN or Beenhaaker are doing everything they can to fix things, but I know they’re not doing absolutely nothing. Its gonna take time, and even then its likely that Poland will never win the World Cup. Sometimes it feels like the people here think winning a Cup is just over the horizon. There’s a long way to go, and Poland has moved backwards since the early 80’s. There’s gonna be bumps in the road. Look at Turkey. They were the darlings of Euro 2008. There’s still a good chance that Turkey won’t qualify. We need to keep things in perspective.

By Tomek | July 13th, 2009 at 12:12 pm

God, why are there no more transfers involving Polish players >_< .

Is Muras moving to Kazan really going to be this summer’s Polish transfer?
I hope not.

I really thought I would see some Poles in the Eredivisie….. Well Przyrowski might go to either Feyenoord or FC Twente, that’s about it.

Posted from Netherlands

By Tomek | July 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm

Also our hero Adamek kicked the redneck’s Bobby Gunn’s ass yesterday.
Awesome! Though I hope he’ll get a serious opponent now.

Posted from Netherlands

By robski | July 13th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

at the recent form our players have been presenting, I’m not surprised there are no transfers.

Posted from United States

By Paradowski | July 13th, 2009 at 9:14 pm

Congratulations tomasz! Cheers to you on earning your Masters! If you’re ever in Chicago for that beer (^ JZ), take a left to St. Louis for more beer on me

^ Tomek thanks for the info on the Adamek fight. I just watched the fight, each round, on YouTube. Here is round 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5LzelvlODk&feature=related. My favorite highlights (besides the ring girl! – wow!) was Adamek’s right smash at 1:14 (and the lighting combination at ~ 0:41, with an immediate follow-up block of an attempted left from Gunn. A good ringside report here: http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=20432&more=1

Back to football: Our NT should take inspiration from Tomasz Adamek, and train hard, don’t take any opponent lightly (not that they are in a position to take anyone lightly), remain professional and focus on the task until the final whistle.

By chester | July 13th, 2009 at 10:35 pm

I heard from this Irish kid that Adamek is very good in the new Fight Night Round 4 video game. He has great stats and is one of the best in his division.

By Tomek | July 14th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

Oh, and grats Tomasz on your graduation

Posted from Netherlands

By Tomek | July 14th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Well here’s something, apparantly Zenit want to buy R.Lewandowski, for 5 million.

Again I feel this is a mixed bag: On the other hand, I really want him to leave Poland. On the other hand, every young talent who went to Russia failed. So I dunno what to make from this….

Posted from Netherlands

By Paradowski | July 14th, 2009 at 10:49 pm

I hope Murawski does well with Rubin Kazan. I’m bummed he is not with Lech and concerned he is with a Russian club – hope he IS skilled enought and an exception for his career. That’s tough to take that Muras and Smuda are no longer with the kolejorz.

By zaraza | July 15th, 2009 at 11:04 pm

The Ekstraklasa is supposed to start in a couple weeks but it’s still unknown which clubs will take part! Today the PZPN declared that Korona Kielce will advance to the Ekstraklasa, as Widzew Lodz apparently have some corruption issues, however, Widzew is appealing in the courts. The fates of LKS Lodz, Arka Gdynia, and Cracovia also remain up in the air….
Why don’t they just expand the number of teams to 18? A league comprised of 16 teams seems a bit small for a country the size of Poland.

Posted from Canada

By a | July 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am

Adrian Cieslewicz to Wrexham FC.

http://www.wrexhamchronicle.co.uk/wrexham-fc/wrexham-fc-news/2009/07/02/wrexham-fc-dragons-to-sign-adrian-cieslewicz-from-manchester-city-88713-24036057/

In regards to the PZPN’s handling of the Ekstraklasa, I think this just proves the fact that it is a semi-professional Mickey Mouse league.

By robski | July 16th, 2009 at 9:37 pm

Legia wins 3-0 against Olimpia Rustawi of Georgia, and Polonia barely wins 1-0 against Juvenes/Dogana of the great almighty San Marino.

Posted from United States

By Rydzynski | July 17th, 2009 at 12:13 am

Wisla tied an Estonian team in CL qualifiers?! Not good at all. Looks like Mariusz Jop is playing on Wisla Tomasz, he was on the lineup roster on uefa.com. If he’s playing they must really be short on any sort of defenders. Probably missing Marek Zienczuk as well. Hopefully the second leg goes better.

By Alek | July 17th, 2009 at 2:53 am

Well the replacement Wisla got for Zienczuk (Kirm) actually played well. I only had time to watch the first half and Jop wasn’t too bad, except for his only real mistake cost Wisla a goal, the midfield and attack just didn’t seem to know what to do. If Wisla play like this during the league the definitely won’t win.

I watched the Legia game as well and they really seemed to have improved their offensive skills, mainly thanks to Szalachowski not being injured and Paluchowski’s unusually good form.

Now I’d like to see how Lech are playing without Murawski. I don’t think it will have effected their game too much. So I think the title will go to either Legia or Lech this year.

Posted from United States

By zaraza | July 17th, 2009 at 5:16 am

Wisla and Polonia’s results are embarrassing.. I doubt their opponents even play in a fully professional league, those countries are tiny!
I think Wisla will get their act together but Polonia will probably be eliminated in the next round. Legia surprisingly hasn’t embarrassed us yet.

Krychowiak trained with Bordeaux’s first team for a week or two, but has now been sent back to the reserves…
http://www.directbordeaux.com/news.php?id=3208&categorie=Effectif
I hope he’s smart and tries to arrange a loan move, instead of wasting another season playing in reserves. Bordeaux fans seem to think he’s very talented but it appears he has little chance of breaking through this season.

Posted from Canada

By Tomek | July 17th, 2009 at 2:58 pm

BVB Dortmund just sold Frei, transfer of R.Lewandowski is very possible now, since they want to buy a replacement.

Posted from Netherlands

By robski | July 17th, 2009 at 4:20 pm

Lech said that the Lewandowski transfer can go through only if Lech get a 5th striker, so just because Frei was sold doesnt mean anything yet but we will see soon. A lot of reports from the media have been saying that Lewandowski wants to leave badly and is bored with the Polish league etc.
Maybe true but the media always play these kind of tricks

Posted from United States

By Hieronim | July 17th, 2009 at 5:21 pm

I watched much of the Polonia game and they totally dominated, which should be expected against that team from San Marino. They should score plenty of goals in the home leg. Levadia Talinn is a very professional team, Wisla dominated but just couldn’t finish. Skorza will get their act together for the away leg. I just don’t understand how you guys keep ragging on club teams from smaller nations and their national teams. Anything can happen on the pitch in the game of football. That’s why they actually play the games. It’s one thing if a side is lacking in motivation, pride, and the correct attitude which is something that seems to be a problem with Polish sides as of late, including the NT, but sometimes it just isn’t a team’s day.

By Soji Oyenuga | July 26th, 2009 at 9:25 am

Press Release – New Audio Book to Help ETHNIC GROUP [e.g Polish] parent Salvage Their Children from being lost culturally. Check
Amazing Tips for Immigrant Parents for more details.

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