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Writer's pictureBruce Davis

Fitness, form and necessity: who will be in Fernando Santos’ first Poland squad?


Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock


On Friday lunchtime, Fernando Santos will name his first Poland squad ahead of European qualifiers against Czechia and Albania later this month. Santos has said that there will be no great overhaul immediately, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see a few fresh or returning faces.


There are concerns over the fitness of key members of the team as well as players in both good and poor form. I’m going to run through each position and give all the relevant information as to who I think Santos is most likely to call-up or drop.


Goalkeepers


There have been a few rumours that Rafał Gikiewicz will finally get the first Poland cap he has been craving for a number of years now, but unfortunately I think that is unlikely at this moment. We’ll probably see the usual suspects of Wojciech Szczęsny, Łukasz Skorupski and the very deserving Bartłomiej Drągowski.


Kamil Grabara has been doing very well in Denmark, but given the current strong form of Skorupski and Drągowski, it’s unlikely that he will unseat either of the more established back-ups for Szczęsny.


Defenders


We’re not yet sure if Santos will stick with the back four that we saw Poland play at the World Cup or revert to Poland’s more familiar back three. One thing we do know is that Kamil Glik is likely to miss out after undergoing knee surgery at the start of February, but thankfully Jan Bednarek has come into form since returning to Southampton and aiding them in their relegation fight. Jakub Kiwior and Bartosz Bereszyński haven’t been playing very much since their big January moves to Arsenal and Napoli respectively, but this doesn’t mean they can’t still contribute. Santos has said as much, so we can certainly expect to see them in the squad. Matty Cash is sure to receive a call-up as well, and there will be plenty of responsibility placed on his shoulders after a more underwhelming World Cup campaign than many expected.


Midfielders


Poland still retain the same midfield issues as they had in the World Cup; that is, not a great deal of strength in depth when it comes to the more defensively-minded central midfielders. Expect to see Grzegorz Krychowiak called up, as well as Krystian Bielik who has recovered from a minor calf injury he suffered whilst playing for Birmingham and Damian Szymański has been in relatively strong form for AEK Athens. Sebastian Szymański has also returned to fitness after a knee injury suffered at the end of January. It would be nice to see Mateusz Klich reintroduced as another, more creative option in a fairly binary defend or attack midfield, after he was left out of the World Cup squad.


As for those on the wing, Jakub Kamiński has continued his upward trajectory at Wolfsburg and Michał Skóraś is going from strength to strength at Lech Poznań. Nicola Zalewski was suffering from a dip in form but since has been more like his usual self and scored his first goal for Roma last weekend in a narrow 4-3 loss to Sassuolo. Przemysław Frankowski’s Lens have fallen away from their good early season position but he is still playing to a high standard, and I would expect to see him in the squad.


Forwards


Robert Lewandowski was suffering from a hamstring issue in recent weeks, but made his return at the weekend as Barcelona won against Athletic Bilbao, although he still looked like he wasn’t fully fit. Arkadiusz Milik suffered a hip injury at the end of January that meant he was set to miss these internationals, but reports in Italy this week have suggested that he will be fit for Juventus’ match against Inter Milan this Sunday, so it remains touch-and-go whether he will be deemed fit enough to be called up.


Krzysztof Piątek hasn’t been in the goals for Salernitana these past months, and much as I personally like him as a player I think Dawid Kownacki is having such a great season that it is time he becomes a part of the Polish national team again. Karol Świderski is not having a great start to the MLS season, but it is well-established how consistently he performs for Poland.



Of course, this isn't everyone who will be in the squad and I'd expect a few surprises as well as other deserving call-ups, for example Paweł Dawidowicz.


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