Kownacki is 24 years old and if everything went according to plan, he should just play in the leading European league, in at least a reliable club, and have not seven matches for the Polish national team, but thirty. First of all, injuries, a lot of pressure and – paradoxically – appointments to great national tournaments were the main obstacles. After four and a half years, the forward returns to Lech, and the coach ensures that this is a win-win situation, which is good for the club and the player. But it’s a failure that it happens at all.
The most talented student of Lech Poznań. Why didn’t it work out?
– He always had the ability to judge the situation perfectly. Let me explain: sometimes the coach would like to pause the game and show the player a different, better solution in a given situation. A place to do dribbling or, more preferably, a friend to pass. It was the other way around with Kownacki. Before the trainer noticed, he had already passed it in. He always made the right decisions – says the director of the Lech Poznań academy when Kownacki was there. – He absorbed everything in an instant. He had the freedom and lightness of the game. Everything came naturally to him – adds Wojciech Tomaszewski, the coach who took Kownacki to Lech. – He was eight years old then, he moved from Gorzów Wielkopolski to Poznań. After two trainings, we made a decision that we want him permanently. There were no doubts – he says.
Kownacki went through all age categories at the academy and made his debut in the first team at the age of 16. Since the 1960s, there has not been a picnic in Lech who would play with seniors at such a young age. It was only in December 2018 that he was one day ahead of him. “A big thing. Now calm and cool head, so that you do not fly away like me” – wrote him then Kownacki.
Sam too early and over-believed in the praise coming from all over the place. He also liked this early adulthood – going out together with older players and their entertainment. He wanted to equal them, maybe even beat them, as long as they considered him a member of the team. throwing his childish face on billboards and inviting him to matches. He also advertised the academy with his image. There was a lot of him in Poznań. At that time, he was wearing a hat, on which he had “Kownas” embroidered, which became the symbol of his soda bag, and in social media he bet with fans that he would score ten goals in the round. When he failed, he was overwhelmed by criticism. The teenager was neither prepared for such expectations, nor for such pressure, nor for adult life. – The pressure was too much. The head couldn’t. I got lost – he reflected after a few years in an interview for the “Polska Times”.
The trip abroad, although after Kownacki’s successful entry into the league, there was talk of offers from Bayern Munich or Liverpool, he was delayed. It took years to rebuild the form due to injuries, and it took years to remove the manicured boy’s patch.
– He was helped by his mother and stepfather and an exceptionally correct agent. They played a great role in the fact that it was possible to save him. Mom was radical with the process of getting certain things from David, and she was a great conversation partner. She controlled David until she could control. The stepfather complimented it, was interested in all of this. I think that is why Dawid escaped from this road on time to nowhere – says the coach Śledź.
– I have not had any contact with David for a long time, I observe what is happening with him from the side and I wonder if this ease at the beginning of his career, dictated by his extraordinary talent, has lulled his tendency to backbreaking work a little. In my opinion, out of all the boys from the academy, he had the best chance of making the most beautiful career – Śledź adds.
World Cup, high expectations and great disappointment. Dawid Kownacki: “I’m fed up with this behavior from Sampdoria!”
On the pitch, he was also helped by the cooperation with which ended with nine goals in the season and a transfer to Sampdoria. Kownacki’s relatives emphasize, however, that his fatherhood changed him. He was 22 when his daughter was born. He quickly matured, became responsible, became independent. – He is an intelligent boy – noted many of our interlocutors.
Only with injuries he never managed to deal with. There were mild injuries and two serious ones that required surgery. But even when Kownacki was healthy, he was not able to accelerate his career for good. He had good times – like his first season after his transfer to Sampdoria, in which he scored five goals in Serie A and three in the Italian Cup. It was then that Adam Nawałka argued that such a talent happens once in decades and called him up to the World Cup in Russia.
From the player’s environment, we hear a suggestion that it is the performances in important national team tournaments that can partly explain the club’s failures in his career. In the summer of 2017, Kownacki played in the European Under-21 Championship, a year later he was in Nawałka’s squad and played at the end of the match against Senegal and from the beginning with Colombia, and in 2019 he was the captain of the team at the next youth Euro in Italy. In 2020, there were no tournaments due to the pandemic, and in 2021 Kownacki was in the national team for the Euro. Every time most of his club mates prepared for the season, he rested after the tournament. He came back to the club after his vacation and was behind.
The summer of 2018 seems to be of key importance. Kownacki had a good first season behind him and he promised himself a lot after the next one. Although the World Cup was disastrous for the Poles, he appreciated the mere possibility of playing in the championship and returned to the club positively charged. He was hoping that a breakthrough season was approaching, in which he would become Sampdoria’s main forward. But nothing went his way. The sports director has changed in the club. He brought in new players and was to advise the coach to bet on them, not the predecessor’s chosen ones. When Kownacki returned to the club, the initial hierarchy was already established and he was not even in the top three forwards. Due to the backlog in training, he never managed to reverse this order. He was wasting a few chances. He did not know for a long time what the coach expected from him. Marco Giampaolo is not used to explaining his decisions to the players. Italian journalists, in turn, complained that Kownacki on the pitch was lethargic and discouraged. “Bored reserve,” one newspaper wrote.
– Let me put it straight: I’ve had enough! I’m sick of this behavior from Sampdoria! I’m getting more and more nervous because time flies and I still don’t know what my future will be. Nobody explains anything to me. I don’t want to stay here, I want to leave. And I won’t want to come back here, I want to close this chapter once and for all. And after the first season I was an optimist – said Kownacki in “Super Express”.
“Megawtopa. Fortune never made a major mistake”
She first borrowed him, but after he scored four goals in 10 games, she spent seven million euros for him. Kownacki is the most expensive footballer in its history to this day. And with a large copy, because the next – Nana Ampomah – cost less than three million. The expectations were therefore high, while the Pole did not score or assist in 20 Bundesliga matches, and the club finished the season in penultimate place. The Pole admitted a few months ago that the high price was a burden for him. Fans expected him to be the team leader. That he would take the offensive on his shoulders and help keep the team. After every no-goal match, they rebuked him for seven million.
In the back room, Kownacki played better, but still most often not as a center forward, but as an extreme side midfielder – depending on the setting: swinging or winger. He scored seven goals and had five assists. However, he did not recover until the end of the season (four goals and two assists in the last seven games), which may confirm the thesis that overworking the entire camp is fundamental for him.
He was fit for Euro, so he took him to the team. He did not play in the tournament, but returned to Fortuna again shortly before the season. He had to catch up again, and again an injury prevented him from doing so. Unfortunately, serious: torn external ligaments in the knee. It came just at a time when Kownacki was happy that the cooperation with the osteopath was paying off. He got rid of minor but troublesome injuries. The doctor said that the problems were due to poor posture. He focused on treatments for the back and Kownacki finally played in a dozen or so matches in a row without any pain. Unfortunately, he later lost half of September, October, November and December due to a mechanical injury. He did not return to the game until mid-January. In two matches he was on the pitch less than half an hour.
German journalists said goodbye to him with joy. – Megawtopa is gone. Fortune has never made a major mistake – wrote “Bild”. As we hear in the club, they do not expect Kownacki in Poznań to revive and return to play for Fortuna. Rather, they assume that, yes – it will return to form, and thanks to this, it will be possible to sell it and recover some of the invested money.
Dawid Kownacki was loaned to Lech Poznań for six months lechpoznan.pl/fot. Przemysław Szyszka
This connects Kownacki and Lech. The most important round
– Dawid is already an experienced competitor. His return is a win-win situation, i.e. a win-win situation. For Dawid, who will have a chance to rebuild, but also for us, because we are gaining a player who will help us in the league this spring and – says Maciej Skorża, a great supporter of this transfer.
The coach of Lech Poznań wanted to strengthen the rivalry in attack. Mikael Ishak lost most of his preparation due to illness, and he is also a prone player to injuries. The fact that in the previous round he had never had any health problems was a nice surprise for Lech’s staff. But will spring be as successful in this respect? Coaches prefer not to take risks. A new player was necessary, especially since Ishak’s replacement is still struggling after suffering the coronavirus.
Kownacki will not only secure this position, but he can also be placed on the wing or – as he likes – as an attacking midfielder. Kownacki’s versatility will also give Skora the ability to change his position and field two strikers. Besides, the trainer sees him as a fighter. A determined footballer. And with such people he wants to join the most important round for many years. Lech is a leader, he has four points of advantage, but also a great responsibility, because this year he is celebrating its centenary.
The fans themselves like the transfer. “Welcome home,” said one of the fans who came to the airport to greet Kownacki. The latter, in turn, declares that he has returned to win the second championship and win the first Polish Cup in his career. But individual goals will be just as important. Probably the most important round of his career is about to begin. Fight to save her. The password from the photo, which he will see before each entrance to the pitch, is not the worst message.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
