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Radoslaw Majewski Faces A Career Defining Move.

July 18th, 2009 | By: tomasz | 17 Comments »

Radoslaw Majewski went on trial with Nottingham Forest and may be loaned out by the Championship club for a year. Polonia Warsaw agreed to let go of their player, in fact it is the Polish club that is the biggest supporter of the move. Consequently, Majewski doesn’t feel wanted by Polonia and would also eagerly leave Poland. The decision is now up to Billy Davies, the Forest manager.

A year ago Majewski was one of the hottest names in the Polish football. He had a great 2007/08 season with Groclin, almost participated in the Euros (he was one of the last three names that Leo crossed out) and sparked interest from the likes of Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich. Majewski made a name for himself with a very good performance against the English U-21. He was to be the playmaker that, sooner or later, would be the starter for the Polish national team. A year ago I’d bet all my money on him playing regularly for the Bialo Czerwoni in the World Cup qualifiers. After Groclin moved to Warsaw and became Polonia there were huge expectations towards Majewski. He received a new, star quality contract and was supposed to lead Polonia in the fight for the Ekstraklasa championship. They did well in the league, but surprisingly Majewski was one of their weakest links. He was unable to deliver on the promise, couldn’t monopolize the play in the middle of the field and was physically outclassed by more powerful midfielders. He ended the season with one single goal and six assists. To make matters worse, he took part in the alcohol fuelled party in Lvov in August last year and was excluded from the national team. He hasn’t returned to the Bialo Czerwoni ever since. Why the downfall? Some say that life in Warsaw presented too many attractions for Majewski and he couldn’t solely concentrate on football. Others claim that he’s just too immature a person and doesn’t take his career seriously enough. Or maybe he just isn’t as talented as everybody thought a year ago. Leo Beenhakker best described Majewski’s recent performances: “He’s a dog that barks a lot but doesn’t bite”.

Is Nottingham Forest a good place to restart Majewski’s career? It looks as the least likely place to do that. Championship football is full of physicality, long balls and direct play. Remember that Majewski was physically outplayed even in the Polish Ekstraklasa. He’ll be literally killed in the Championship. The ball will spend most of the time over his head rather than at his feet. What I’m saying is that at first glance the move to Nottingham Forest looks disastrous for him. What’s his only hope? I want to believe that the Forest’s manager knows a lot about our playmaker (he claims that he’s scouted him for some time) and will somehow fit the gameplan to Majewski’s abilities. After all, Billy Davies can’t be that stupid to acquire a player that, on paper, has no chances of succeeding in his team. On the other hand, after loan moves of Ebi Smolarek and Przemyslaw Kazmierczak I’m not that sure that English managers know much about the Polish players that they obtain.

Transfer update: Michal Janota was loaned out to Excelsior Rotterdam. This may be the crucial time in his career as he should slowly start to confirm his talent in senior football. Ideally, he’ll return next year to Feyenoord as a player that they count on.

Przemyslaw Kazmierczak was loaned out by FC Porto to Pacos Ferreira. Kaz is probably good enough to play regularly there, but I don’t have high hopes for him after the last two disastrous seasons.

Rafal Grzelak moved from Skoda Xanthi to Steaua Bucharest. A player that as a teenager was heralded as the most talented Polish youngster is now playing for a better club, but, ironically, he’s even further away from Leo and fans’ radar (Romanian league anyone?).

Sebastian Przyrowski was on trial with Sheffield United. I’m certain that he’s a good enough goalkeeper to succeed at Championship level or even higher. The problem may be the money that Polonia wants to receive for him.

Marek Saganowski is reported to be close to signing a deal with Larissa. I think that he has still got two or three good seasons in an average European league in him.

Finally, Magic Zurawski scored in his debut for Omonia Nicosia. A goal that reminds me of the good old Wisla days:

Wisla Krakow only drew with Levadia Tallinn in their CL qualifier. I only saw the first half (second was unavailable due to storm) and Biala Gwiazda’s performance was less than average. Luckily, Levadia is also far from being a powerhouse so there are still good chances of going through. Piotr Cwielong spared Wisla humiliation:

Tags: Cwielong, Group A, Grzelak, Janota, Kazmierczak, Majewski, Poland, Przyrowski, Saganowski, Wisla, zurawski

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Comments

By zaraza | July 19th, 2009 at 2:01 am

Apparently 19 year old Tomasz Welnicki has the chance to make FC Nurnberg’s bench this season. He just moved to Nurnberg over the summer (from Bochum). Plays in defense, probably RB but I’m not sure. He has played for Poland U-19s and is said to be very talented.

10 year old Kacper Chodyna did very well during his trial at AC Milan, scoring 12 goals in a test match. He’s been invited back for another trial in September. They’re not sure whether to invite him to join one of their youth teams or leave him in Poland. Since he’s so young they’d have to find his parents a job in Italy or run afoul of child protection laws.

Posted from Canada

By a | July 19th, 2009 at 10:27 am

I hope Majewski doesn’t approach this opportunity with the attitude that if he can’t succeed in England then he won’t succeed anywhere. He is still young and there is still hope of him becoming the quality player we all thought he was going to become. We’ve seen countless footballers get ruined by moving up a level and failing, they are never the same again. They become known as unfulfilled potential (worst case scenario was Matusiak). He has to take this chance to see how proper football teams are run and how professional players train.

I wonder why a team like Lech did not make a run at Majewski. They have the funds now. It would be all he is looking for; a change of scenery, a professional club, and the Europa League.

Wow 10 years old, maybe Ronaldo was right about the slavery. If it takes child labour to get world class footballers then I say do it. Think about it, every club that has a proper youth system have youth teams that start at the age of 5 or 6. These kids are exposed to proper coaching and develop faster at earlier stages in their careers. So by the age of 15 or so they don’t have to be taught the fundamentals. So if he goes through the AC Milan system is he going to feel Italian and won’t want to play for us? Or is he going to feel obligated to the play for them because they developed him. Is he going to be a victim of the equivalent of germanization?

By zaraza | July 19th, 2009 at 11:42 am

No offense but I’m getting annoyed at Polish fans worrying about players like Chodyna, Janota, etc. possibly switching countries. Please name ONE player who’s actually done that? The only players we’ve “lost” are those who were born in another country or moved at a very young age. So, no, I can’t see Chodyna suddenly deciding he feels Italian. Maybe if he’d moved at the age of 2. Anyway, from what I’ve read, Italians are not so keen on calling up foreigners who clearly have no Italian background so I doubt they would even try calling him up.

Germany has their own policy, they don’t seem to care much even when it’s blatantly obvious that a player chose them for reasons other than love of country, ie. glory-hunting, financial reasons, or a feeling of obligation. Frankly I don’t know why Germany follows the policy they do, they’re just turning their NT into a joke, in a few years half the team will be mercenaries. How are people supposed to believe players like Klose and Podolski chose Germany for the right reasons, that Germany is the country they genuinely identify with, when they make no secret of the fact that they continue to follow Polish culture at home? Podolski, listing his favorite things, food, music, well the list was practically all Polish. Klose said his family speaks only Polish at home and his kids won’t learn German until kindergarten, lol!

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | July 19th, 2009 at 8:10 pm

I’ve been having a look to see if our youth have been progressing. There are two major disappointments:

Bartosz Bialkowski – he was touted as a huge talent and there was talk a couple years ago that he would soon earn a call-up to the NT. However, in the last couple seasons, he has only made one appearance in the Championship (zero last season). It’s unlikely that he’ll get a chance in the third division either, since Southampton’s #1 has chosen to stay on with the club following their relegation.

Sebastian Tyrala – the Polish media made a huge fuss in order to get Beenhakker to call him up. But he’s made no progress in the last couple seasons:
2007-08 season: 1 minute in the Bundesliga, 19 games (1 goals) in 3rd division reserves
2008-09 season: 0 minutes in the Bundesliga, 32 games (6 goals) in 4th division reserves
And he has not been invited to train with Borussia’s first team for the upcoming season..

It’ll be interesting to see whether they decide to move in this transfer window. They really should since their careers are clearly going nowhere at their current clubs.

Krychowiak’s situation is also disappointing, Bordeaux added some youth to their first team squad but he failed to make the cut.

Blazej Augustyn is training with Catania’s first team and played the full 90 minutes in today’s 1-1 draw against Besiktas (some of Catania’s regular players were injured).

Cywka and Kupisz played a half each in Wigan’s loss against some fourth division club. They played as lone strikers and seemed lightweight according to reports.

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | July 19th, 2009 at 8:16 pm

Correction: Augustyn played the first 45 minutes in today’s match.

Posted from Canada

By Pestilence | July 20th, 2009 at 10:01 am

Erm, I’d just like to take issue with a couple of points re Majewski:

1. So Championship football will “literally” kill him? You mean he will cease respiring? How’s that work then? It’s a tough league but not that tough…

2. I object to your assertion that the league is full of direct play, long balls and physicality. Did you see Swansea play last season? Or any games at all for that matter? Sure, there’s often a breakneck pace and full-throttle action, but there’s real quality evident at times.

By a | July 20th, 2009 at 10:59 am

Zaraza, you’re probably right. I admire your passion and commitment to Polish football. I enjoy reading your posts. However, you can’t fault the fans for being a little defensive when it comes to that issue. Where our national team stands right now losing one guy is a big deal (not to mention what side that guy chose).

By zaraza | July 20th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

To clarify, my comments aren’t really aimed at you, it’s just general frustration. It seems every time a young player goes abroad, Polish fans immediately start suggesting the player will apply for that country’s citizenship and consider representing them. I don’t understand this anxiety, it’s just never happened and personally I think there’s a possible self-fulfilling prophecy.. I mean, if fans keep going on about how this or that player might want to switch countries, it just creates the false impression that it’s more normal and common than it actually is, and players will probably be MORE likely to do so…

Bartosz Salamon played in Brescia’s first friendly and assisted on one of the goals.

Wigan played a friendly against Hannover 96 today. Tomasz Kupisz played the last 18 minutes of the first half, while Tomasz Cywka came on for the final 7 minutes of the second half. Still too early to tell whether they have a chance of breaking through this season.

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | July 21st, 2009 at 7:39 pm

Majewski’s loan move was finalized today. Can’t say I’m terribly excited about it, I pretty much agree with Tomasz’s assessment, Majewski will probably struggle with the English style of football. Hope I’m wrong though.

Posted from Canada

By tomasz | July 22nd, 2009 at 8:41 am

@Pestilence
1 It’s only a rhetorical figure, maybe not the best one.
2 No, I don’t watch Championship games on regular basis. I base my judgement on the Championship teams I saw in the FA Cup playing against the Premiership clubs. You can also observe this direct style of play in most teams that have just advanced to the Premiership (I saw a couple of Stoke games last season, that’s how they played more or less). Tomasz Frankowski says the same about Championship, that it’s a fast, direct play and that he hardly saw the ball at his feet. That’s why I worry about Majewski since he’s not the best build Polish player and he’s only useful with the ball at his feet. Nevertheless, I hope I’m wrong.

@zaraza
I can see you’re closely scouting our youngsters. I don’t have high hopes for Tyrala, he’s been a hot prospect in the past, but it seems he never recovered from the serious injury he suffered some time ago. Augustyn is an enigmatic figure for me. He wasn’t good enough for Legia, played only four games in Serie B, yet he’s been acquired by Catania. I hope they’re right in their judgement of him. As for Cywka and Kupisz I don’t understand Wigan’s actions in this case. It seems that they count on the players (they prolonged their contracts), yet when opportunity comes thay’re not given a chance in the Premiership. They should either get their share of Premiership football or be loaned out somewhere, it’s no use spending another year in reserves. Krychowiak I only saw a couple of times in my life, but he made a good impression on me. Leo is also supposed to be closely following his prospect. If what you write is true, once again I think he should be loaned out somewhere, he won’t learn much training with reserves. Bialkowski has enormous potential, it’s a huge surprise for me that he was unable to play regularly in England, a country that can’t boast about a large number of quality goalies. Finally, I saw Salamon on the youtube video you once linked. He looks a very good prospect, very confident on the ball and tactically aware.

By tomasz | July 22nd, 2009 at 8:46 am

Wisla game isn’t televised today. Shame, I was to write a note about it.

By robski | July 22nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm

Wisla lost to Levadia Tallinn 1-0 so goodbye Champions League and Europa League. I dont know whether to laugh or cry..

By Soji Oyenuga | July 26th, 2009 at 8:40 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.

By John McClane | August 2nd, 2009 at 7:33 am

“The ball will spend most of the time over his head rather than at his feet”.

Excuse me you obviously no nothing about Nottingham Forest, “long ball” is a swear word at the City Ground.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Anglopol | August 8th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

I am a Nottingham Forest, Polish born in the u.k.home season ticket holder and listened to todays away game at Reading. Majewski had a good game and got forward on many occasions and should have scored from 15 meters out. Nottingham Forest like to pass the ball around, play attractive attacking football, whick should suit his style, he definately has lots of talent. I think his one problem is, that he is not particulary good going in to the tackle and fear that he may get two yellow cards or at straight red in at least one game this season. He was late in on 3 occasions today and rather fortunate not to get a yellow card. Having said that, I think he will be one of the teams most influential players this season and if Forest get anywhere near promotion this season he will have played a big part. I wish him well and hope he can find his way back in to the Polish national team. Others have done it so why not him.

Posted from United Kingdom

By BAD DOG | August 29th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

Raddy is pure class for us (forest) scored the goal of the season today and we MUST sign him permenantly.

RADDIE MAJEWSKI!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By mark manchester | August 30th, 2009 at 12:12 pm

so far so good for raddie, he seems to have adapted well to championship pace, long balls? not seen many. forest dont play football in the clouds, he definatly fits in with the style of play that can only be described as fast and physical moreso attractive than previous seasons under calderwood and the previous clowns that were employed to take forest forward again. keep it up raddie prove your critics wrong they obviously spend too much time watching the bore of the prem where the same four teams finish in the same positions season after season. dont be misunderstood by my saying the prem is a bore i love watching arsenal man u chelsea and liverpool in the champions league but come on, the wages are a joke the transfer fees, fifa platini, blatter and not having video to aid the refs in the game, its evolved into faster paced game just a shame that the refs havent evolved also. keep it up majewski, your the right player for forest and the football league, and judging how well youve played so far i expect more to come in the future.

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