What’s Up With Polish Youth: Kokoszka, Janota And Who The Hell Is Sebastian Tyrala.

Just some info about what’s happening with young players of Polish origin. Our Euro squad member, Adam Kokoszka, is not participating in Wisla’s training camp as he wants to leave the club under Webster’s ruling. Michal Janota, 17 year old prodigy, will train with Feyenoord senior team. Finally, Sebastian Tyrala from Dortmund announced that he wants to represent Poland. Is he any good?

These are Kokoszka’s last days in Wisla’s colours. He doesn’t want to play for the club and the club doesn’t want to make him do it. It was a bold, if not stupid, move from Kokoszka to issue an announcement that he’s leaving on Webster ruling. The only problem is that he may not be elligible to do it because he signed some amendments to his contract in winter. Consequently, he’s considered, at least by Wisla officials, to have signed a new contract. The case will probably end up in court. What the hell is wrong with the players, their agents and club officials, can’t they read? Don’t they know anything about the law? I hope that the matter will be solved quickly, Kokos is too talented a player to waste time not playing. Przeglad Sportowy is reporting today today that Zenith St Petersburg is ready to pay 1M for Kokoszka’s services. Unfortunately, there are no statements from Zenith officials or even comments by Russian journalist so the rumour may have originated solely in the article author’s head. Moreover, PS is claiming that Kokos will travel to Italy on Saturday to discuss terms with AC Torino. As far as I remember, he was linked with Empoli a couple of days ago. The conclusion can only be one: Kokoszka will leave Wisla. The only question is how soon will he do it and where will he end up. Zenith is a great team, but personally I’d prefer to see him in Serie A, a league well known for great defenders. We’re in for one interesting transfer saga.

Oh yes, Michal Janota. At least for the last 2-3 years I’ve heard positive things about him. He’s heralded as the most talented Polish player of his generation. He’s been a star of all Polish youth teams he played for. Out of several offers he chose Feyenoord in 2006 because of a great training programme that they employ. He played well for Feyenoord’s youth teams. Certainly, he is a future international, right? The only problem is, I’ve never seen him in a game. I’ve never even seen any video highlights of him play. I always refrain from judging players that I’m not familiar with (e.g Kupisz in Wigan or S-Latef in Sheffield Utd, can’t tell if they’re any good). However, in Janota’s case there are signs that he is the deal. He is one of four Feyenoord’s youth team players that will take part in senior squad’s season preparation camp. I know it’s only a training camp and we won’t probably see him in Eredivisie this season. But the sole fact that, at 17 years, he won a right to train with the first team tells us a lot. He must be considered one of the biggest prospects in Rotterdam. His manager, not surprisingly, is saying that he’s one of the biggest talents in Holland. Let’s hope that this time the words will find confirmation in reality. I’ve got a good feeling about Janota. Did anyone see him play?

An interesting piece of news came from Germany; Dortmund’s Sebastian Tyrala declared that he wants to play for Poland. I first heard about him two years ago. He was considered a great prospect in Dortmund and was already a member of a senior team with a professional contract. At the same time, he played for German youth teams. Unfortunately, things haven’t gone as planned for Sebastian since then. He failed to win a regular place at Dortmund, probably because of injuries. From what I checked, he played last season for Dortmund II team in the 3rd division. Not a place where we look for national team players, is it? At the same time, he’s being offered to play for German U-21 team. Should Leo give him a chance? It’s hard to say really. To be honest, I don’t know what he’s capable of. He’s already 20 years old and is not considered Dortmund’s first team member nowadays (at least by Kicker). Should we call him up only because he may turn out to be good in the future? A hard decision. I say Leo should contact him and promise him a chance in one of winter friendlies where he usually tests young players from the Polish league. This would be fair both for Tyrala and players that deserve a chance more than him at this moment. I’ll repeat my Janota question, did anybody see him play? Judging from this video he can’t be that bad.

Ps: Polish U-17 player, Mateusz Szczepaniak, signed a contract with AJ Auxerre. Nantes, on the other hand, are reported to be intrested in another Polish youth team member, Jakub Kosecki. Does it ring a bell? Yep, Jakub is a son of Polish legend (and currently a MOP) Roman “Kosa” Kosecki. More and more players become aware that they must leave Poland as soon as possible to have any chance of career in a professional football.