Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
It’s been a bit of a theme at various points this season: Polish players not getting a fair shake of things at their clubs. At the start of the season, we were all getting quite perturbed about the lack of minutes Jakub Kiwior was getting at Arsenal, only to now find ourselves pleasantly surprised at what an integral member of the Premier League’s best defence he has become. The same was true of Michał Skóraś, we’d all practically forgotten about his existence over in Belgium before the past two months came along and his form puts him as a surefire candidate for Michał Probierz’s squad to take to Germany this summer.
Unfortunately, for every player who wasn’t getting playing time only to now be showing themselves worthy of it, there are others who are not in the same situation, the worst of all being Jakub Kamiński at Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg have had an underwhelming season, currently finding themselves in 13th place and having sacked Niko Kovac, instead bringing in Ralph Hasenhuttl. Kovac had got Wolfsburg playing very well last season as they challenged for European football, they sold one or two key players for decent money in the summer but they spent good money themselves, yet instead the team has sharply regressed.
Kamińśki is a big casualty of both the summer spending and the team’s misfortunes this season. Towards the end of last season he was a member of the starting line-up and was putting in strong performances, only to find himself almost permanently sat on the bench this season in favour of new signings, and sadly the change in manager has not yet made any difference to his playing time. He’s played less than 500 minutes of football for Wolfsburg this season, and hasn’t registered a goal or assist for them all season, easily understandable when you consider he last started a game in January.
The brightest performance from Kamiński all season was, unsurprisingly, for Poland’s U21s against Israel’s U21s around this time last month. Again, there was no goal or assist but Kamiński stood out as one of the best players on the pitch without a doubt.
Of course, as I referenced earlier, Kamiński is far from the only Polish player to find himself getting less time on the pitch than would be expected. Piotr Zieliński found himself frozen out at Napoli on account of his imminent free transfer to Inter, only for the team to be performing that badly without him he was reintroduced to the starting line-up by their third manager of the season Francesco Calzona.
Nicola Zalewski has struggled to find much time on the pitch at Roma this season either, a situation which has only gotten worse for him since Daniele De Rossi took charge and revitalised a team that was on the slide. Zalewski has had chances here and there, but not many and he doesn’t seem to fit with De Rossi’s plans. It’s all the more bizarre when you consider what an exciting and effective winger Zalewski has been in a Poland shirt these past few months, but this hasn’t translated to what he’s been able to show in albeit limited minutes for Roma.
Arkadiusz Milik is another who has suffered from little playing time, although in his case injuries have been a sadly familiar tale of why he receives little time on the pitch at Juventus, not to mention the emergence of Kenan Yildiz as another far younger option in attack. All that being said, Milik has played pretty well recently for Juve. He scored against Atalanta, got injured again, and then just this past weekend helped his side earn a point away against a spirited Cagliari side, helping (sort of) to force an own goal in the dying minutes from Alberto Dossena. Whether it’s enough to get himself into Probierz’s squad for Euro 2024 is another matter altogether, but he has a good chance of at least remaining fit for the rest of the season.
Looping back round to Kamiński, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him moved out on loan from Wolfsburg this summer, or even permanently. He turns 22 this June, so there’s still a lot of potential to be fulfilled, and right now it’s hard to see that happening if he stays at Wolfsburg. In January some of the relegation-threatened Bundesliga sides enquired about Kamiński on loan, but for whatever reason these moves did not materialise. Hopefully this summer Kamiński can find a new home either temporarily or permanently and get back to playing regular football once more.
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