Image via @EmpoliFC on Twitter
Szymon Żurkowski’s return to Empoli has certainly been prolific; he came off the bench last week to score in a 2:1 loss and yesterday, under new boss Davide Nicola, Empoli ran out 3-0 winners against a very good Monza side, with all the goals coming from Żurkowski.
The pick of the bunch would be the first goal, a wonderful volley from the edge of the box which could well be the goal of the weekend in Serie A. The other goals were less spectacular but still very well-taken close range finishes, the culmination of moves started in midfield by Żurkowski before he finished them off himself.
It’s absolutely amazing that in the space of one week we’ve gone from speaking as I did in an article less than a fortnight ago, from a player yet to come good on potential having a last throw of the dice at the club he was playing his best football at, to one who should be a serious consideration for a return to the national side at the earliest possible opportunity.
Żurkowski looks completely transformed now he’s back at Empoli, and although it’s early days you feel it will be a crying shame if this is not made permanent in the summer regardless of which division Empoli find themselves in. The player we see now is a far cry from the player we saw at Spezia in the last 12 months.
I really like Spezia, I’ve written about them a lot given their predisposition to signing Polish players, but it unsurprisingly looks like many of them are jumping ship as Spezia face a serious threat of back-to-back relegations. I’d actually tipped them to challenge to a return to Serie A last summer, and I still maintain that they could have had Przemysław Wiśniewski not had a serious knee injury which has only recently seen him tipped to return in the coming weeks.
As it is, Żurkowski has left on loan and is likely not to return and the same can be said of Bartłomiej Drągowski who has headed for Panathinaikos in Greece. To add to this, Arkadiusz Reca has been injured since November and is also unlikely to return for some weeks.
Last summer I wrote that all of the Polish contingent at Spezia were still of the quality to play in Italy’s top flight, and perhaps Żurkowski’s recent form validates this theory. Indeed you imagine that this coming summer might well see Wiśniewski and Reca move away from Spezia as well, and it is a little sad to see their downfall considering how close they were to retaining their Serie A status just six months or so ago.
Finally, a fact I actually found quite unbelievable, but is true: Żurkowski’s hat-trick yesterday was actually the first of his career and the first Polish player to net three in the same game in Serie A history.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.
Comments