When Mateusz Zukowski joined Lech Poznan last summer, returning to Poland after struggling for opportunities at Rangers, the youngster may have been hoping that game time would be a little easier to come by.
He certainly would not have imagined that, seven months after bidding farewell to Ibrox, he’d have featured more regularly for Lech Poznan’s reserves than he has for the first-team. That, however, is the reality Zukowski is now living.
The defender has played only three Ekstraklasa games under former AZ Alkmaar and KRC Genk coach John van den Brom; his most recent appearance a nine minute cameo all the way back in October.
Zukowski has even been left out of the matchday squad for ten of Lech Poznan’s last 12 league fixtures. In fact, on Sunday afternoon, he was turning out for the club’s reserves during a 3-3 draw with Polonia Warsaw in the Polish second tier.
“I hope to show you what I learned in Rangers over the past few months,” Zukowski said following his Ibrox departure back in August (Glasgow Evening Times).
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So far, he’s not getting many opportunities to do just that.
Mateusz Zukowski stuck in reserves after Rangers exit
“I am coming back to Poland as a better footballer and man,” Zukowski added. I am very happy and I am looking forward to the first training session, as well as the match.”
When Rangers’ former £400,000 signing insisted that Van den Brom would ‘decide where I will play’, he was talking about his position, rather than the whether or not he would feature for the reserves or the first-team.
Zukowski does have a guaranteed obligation-to-buy clause in his Lech Poznan contract. It is highly, highly unlikely that he returns to Ibrox when his initial loan deal comes to an end.
But, with his 22nd birthday fast approaching, Zukowski may have a difficult decision to make about his future if Van den Brom does not see him as an option for his senior side going forward.