As far as former Rangers scout Piotr Kasprzak is concerned, the lack of opportunities afforded to a man who did not even make a single Scottish Premiership appearance during 17 months at Ibrox was not because of a lack of ability.
It’s just that, with captain marvel James Tavernier pretty much a nailed-on member of the Rangers team-sheet, game time was always destined to be scarce for Mateusz Zukowski.
“Let me make it clear right away. Yes, today we can say that it was not a successful transfer,” Kasprzak told Goal on the other side of Christmas.
“However, I remember (Zukowski’s) first months at the club. The feedback was very positive, from the staff and the players. Physical tests? Top three, maybe top five, in each category.
“But we reached the final of the Europa League that season, James Tavernier played in Mateusz’s position. And how he played… There weren’t many options for rotation. Tavernier was the captain.”
Former Rangers youngster dropped to the reserves
A return to his native Poland with Slask Wroclaw in the summer of 2023, then, was supposed to be Zukowski’s chance to show Rangers what they were missing. Instead, however, the 22-year-old has done pretty much the opposite.
While Tavernier took his tally to a remarkable-even-by-his-standards 33 goals and assists with a trademark penalty in the 3-3 draw with Celtic on Sunday, Zukowski is yet to open his account in either department.
“I always say that the best players play. Mateusz Zukowski got over a thousand minutes this season. As of today, he has zero assists and zero goals in his statistics,” sighs Slask coach Jaciek Magiera, publicly criticising the former Poland Under-21 international and not for the first time this season.
“We demand much more from him. He has enormous potential and skills. However, he does not provide this in league matches. The most important thing is how he reacts and what he does about it.”
Like during his loan spell at Lech Poznan in 2022/23, Zukowski arrived with the hope of nailing down a first-team spot but now finds himself looking for minutes in the reserves. Zukowski has played for Slask’s B-team in Poland’s third tier during the last three matches. Will the hat-trick he fired past Odra Bytom on Sunday prove to be a turning point?
Or merely a false dawn for a man who, according to one particularly unforgiving Polish football pundit, was nothing less than ‘the worst winger’ in the Ekstraklasa in the autumn.
Can Mateusz Zukowski bounce back after hat-trick?
“It was nice to play today. I’m happy that I’m starting to have numbers in the reserves,” Zukowski tells the Slask website, looking to move forwards again after a big step back. “I’m waiting for another chance in Ekstraklasa.
“The hat-trick means a lot to me because we all know that the lack of numbers weighs on me. I’m happy to be scoring goals for the second game in a row, and I hope I can keep it up in the next games.”
Interestingly, Zukowski – who joined Rangers in a £400,000 deal as a right-back – feels that he may have been a little misplaced. He is not a defender, he says, but a forward. Maybe even a striker.
“I can play in different positions,” Zukowski adds. “I started my career as a number nine, then I was moved to the wing, and in the last two seasons I played at right-back with varying degrees of success.
“But, this season, I started playing up front. I think my positions are the wing and number nine.”
