Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
It’s a question that rolls around virtually every time the Polish national team steps onto the pitch: how come Kamil Glik is still playing in the side? Indeed, this was a question I had to field several times amongst friends whilst the World Cup was ongoing, and it’s not one to which there is an easy answer.
Glik commands a degree of respect at 34; he has featured for Poland at every tournament since Euro 2016, winning Ligue 1 with Monaco in 2016-17 and making the Champions League semi-finals with them in the same season. Not only is his CV impressive but his stature as one of the biggest leaders in the Polish national team should not be overlooked.
However, there have been times in the past 12 months where it has become increasingly apparent that age is catching up with him, and Poland need to look for younger options at centre back.
Coming back to that question, it’s one often posed by Polish fans and pundits, and one that has no easy answer. If we were to look at the next most senior central defender who made the World Cup squad, Jan Bednarek, his career is hardly going from strength to strength at the moment. Frustrated by what he felt was a stalling career at Southampton, Bednarek moved to Aston Villa on loan only to receive just as little playing time.
Looking elsewhere and there are positive signs of players ready to take up the mantle when Glik departs international football. Paweł Dawidowicz is back in the side at Hellas Verona and is helping them to achieve better results than when he was out of the team, Michał Helik has been a fine defender in the Championship, first with Barnsley and now with Huddersfield Town. However, in my opinion the finest option would be Mateusz Wieteska, who since moving to Clermont Foot from Legia Warszawa this past summer has been particularly impressive in the step up required to his game.
Further down the pecking order we have players like Kamil Piątkowski who I wrote about yesterday given his potential move to Feyenoord, a club where he could really kick on and develop. We have stories in the Polish and Italian press these past few days that Przemysław Wiśniewski is being courted by Spezia to either replace or team up with countryman Jakub Kiwior, and Damian Michalski has been very impressive since his summer move to the 2. Bundesliga with Greuther Fürth.
Looking to the Ekstraklasa, there aren’t a wealth of young defenders that could realistically make up part of Poland’s squad yet, save perhaps two. Maik Nawrocki has been steadily improving at Legia since joining on an initial loan last season, and Ariel Mosór at Piast Gliwice, who has been by far one of the best players in Michał Probierz’s U-21 side.
We don’t yet know whether the next Selekcjoner will continue with the back four we saw Poland play at the World Cup or whether they will revert to the back three Poland have often deployed in recent years, but we know that Jakub Kiwior is now the first choice defender for Poland, which leaves either one or two central defenders needing to line up alongside him.
It would be fair to assume that the World Cup was Glik’s last international tournament for Poland, but I would not be at all surprised if we see him at least in the squad when European qualifying rolls around in the spring.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.
Σχόλια