Polish editorials have been lavishing praise on Derby County winger Kamil Jozwiak following his impressive displays in the recent World Cup qualifying encounters.
Jozwiak joined Derby last summer from Lech Poznan for a £3 million fee.
The 22-year-old has faced a challenging campaign at Pride Park, with former manager Phillip Cocu dismissed early on while the Rams are in a scrap for survival.
Jozwiak has managed just one goal and two assists in 34 Championship appearances.
But for Poland he is having no such trouble in making a brilliant impression.
Jozwiak came off the bench with Poland trailing 2-0 to Hungary. He first grabbed an assist, then scored an equaliser as Paulo Sousa’s side recovered to draw 3-3.
The Derby winger followed that up with a start against Andorra and grabbed another assist with star man Robert Lewandowski firing home in a comfortable 3-0 win.
Polish editorials have singled him out as the nation’s top man behind Lewandowski.
Sport.tvp ‘One of the discoveries of Sousa’s last two matches. Very active on the wing, unconventional, willing to engage in duels and often emerging from them in a victorious way.’
Sport.onet ‘One of the biggest wins at the beginning of the new coach’s term of office.’
Futbolnews.pl ‘Apart from Robert Lewandowski, the best player in the Polish national team. He scored an assist, and if it had not been for the problems in attacking in the first half, he could have noted more of them. He cannot be denied his involvement – he was able to get involved in the game from the beginning to the end. The number of “losses” of the ball in a duel with this opponent is a bit worrying, although they were largely due to the wrong positioning of colleagues.’
Meczyki ‘One of the brightest points again. This boy is breaking into the first line-up at Paulo Sousa and we feel that he will stay there for a long time. If someone made a positive impression on us today, then next to Robert Lewandowski it was Kamil Jóźwiak. It seems we have a successor to Kamil Grosicki.’
Futbol News citing Jozwiak as Poland’s best player behind Lewandowski is some praise considering the other talent on show such as Arkadiusz Milik and Piotr Zielinski.
In 2019 Zielinski was linked with a whopping £57 million move to Arsenal (Mirror).
Jozwiak no doubt has an abundance of talent. However, he is often double-marked in a Derby shirt while the lack of quality around him certainly affects his ability to influence.
Derby boss Wayne Rooney must find a way to release the shackles off him this summer, or he could go down as one of the club’s most wasted talents in years.
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