Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
Due to injury occurring to most of Roma’s options in the wing-back positions, Nicola Zalewski has been playing a lot in the past few games. Jose Mourinho has elected out of necessity to put Zalewski in the right wing-back role, the opposite side to where he would usually play. Mourinho has said that Zalewski has the quality to play a number of positions, and play well in each of them.
Whatever your opinions of Mourinho, there’s no doubting he’s one of the greatest managers of all time, and for him to say that about Zalewski was a real confirmation of the 20 year-old’s progression into a top quality player for both Roma and Poland. Another piece of recognition was his inclusion in the top 20 of the Golden Boy award, confirmed this last Friday, the night after another good performance against Real Betis in the Europa League.
Last night, he played against Sampdoria in Serie A, and continued his good form, save for one or two misplaced passes. He was replaced five minutes before the end by Rick Karsdorp, who has only just recovered from injury.
Despite the recovery of Karsdorp, you get the sense Mourinho will stick with what has been a winning team in Serie A, and that means Zalewski playing on the right.
This will probably be a positive given he will be in plenty of match rhythm for the World Cup, although he will be playing in the left wing-back position for Poland. The only possible negative is that he will be playing too much football, given Roma have to play in a Thursday/Sunday (or Monday) pattern on account of their participation in the Europa League.
In my opinion, it’s about time that Zalewski starts for Roma, be it on the right or left side of the pitch, and it would appear Mourinho has come to that conclusion as well.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.
Comments