Former Rangers youngster Mateusz Zukowski is yet to convince since returning to Poland with Slask Wroclaw coach Jacek Magiera dropping him to the bench amid rising concerns over his performances.
Slask Wroclaw may be level on points with Jagiellonia Bialystok at the top of the Ekstraklasa table but a flying start from his new employers is not exactly shielding Mateusz Zukowski from the rising tide of criticism.
The one-time Rangers prospect, sold by the Ibrox giants after just 18 months and one first-team appearance, was even labelled the ‘worst winger in the league’ by one particularly harsh Polish football pundit a couple of weeks ago.
Jacek Magiera, Slask Wroclaw’s head coach, did not go quite that far.
But he certainly wants to see far more from a man who has paid for a series of subpar performances with his starting spot, beginning the last four league games among the substitutes.
Mateusz Zukowski struggling after Rangers exit
“The boy does not use his potential at all. His speed, his quality of shot. For now, he only shows this potential in training,” Magiera says, via Sport.
“In training, he rocks, he does a lot of cool things. But the match starts, and it’s gone.”
Magiera appears to be taking a leaf out of Erik ten Hag’s playbook, the Manchester United boss going public with his criticism of Jadon Sancho’s attitude after dropping the England international for that 3-1 defeat to Arsenal.
Only time will tell whether Magiera’s comments light a fire under Zukowski’s career. Or whether relations between player and coach become as strained as as tense as those between Ten Hag and Sancho.
‘He has to change’
“I’m saying this publicly to make Mateusz realise that he has to change something in his life,” Magiera adds. “Sometimes, changing certain habits and changing the approach is like snapping a finger. Something is unlocked in your head.
“He’s one of those players I’m still looking for the key to. If Mateusz starts to look like he does in training during matches, we will have a player at the level of the Polish national team.”
Zukowski returned home hoping to prove to Rangers that he deserved more of an opportunity at Ibrox. Instead, his ongoing travails are only doing the opposite.
