Only two players from Lech’s starting lineup will have to say goodbye to the club during the summer transfer window. There will be no revolution in the composition of Kolejorz. But it also looks like the transfers won’t be done in a ‘just fast, just for the start of preparations’ mode. What are the Poznań players’ plans for the summer transfer window? Where are the transfers for Tomas Petrasek, Tymoteusz Puchacz and Kajetan Szmyt?
Somehow, at the beginning of the year, we made a summary of Tomasz Rząsa’s work as Lech’s sporting director in Weslo. We’ve noticed an interesting thing – in fact, no player from Lech’s starting XI is in danger of starting. In other words, if they insisted on keeping the starting line-up with Bulgarska, they would. But since then, we know that Michał Skóraś and Pedro Rebocho will not be there next season. Skóraś went to Club Brugge for around seven million euros, while in the Portuguese’s case, the contract extension clause was not activated after playing the appropriate number of minutes.
Amaral shoots, Velde prefers to stay, as does Marchwiński
A few more names may appear in the departures column, but none of the players can be considered a fundamental figure for the first team. Lubomir Satka, who has already said goodbye to Lech fans, will definitely leave. The representative of Slovakia terminated the contract, and the player himself decided to leave – he wanted to transfer a year ago, but due to the health problems of the Lech stoppers, the club vetoed it. The Slovak doesn’t complain about the lack of interest and it looks like he’ll go to a good western league.
Lech also wants to get rid of Joao Amaral, and Amaral himself doesn’t want to be in Poznań anymore. Most likely, a transfer is on the cards, but due to the Portuguese’s hopeless last season and his age, it’s hard to count on lucrative offers at Poznań. In the past, clubs from MLS and Asia have flocked to him.
We have already written about the interest in Kristoffer Velde. The Norwegian has scored 16 goals and provided seven assists in all competitions this season. Also, today he was called up for the first time to represent Norway. The 23-year-old could count on offers of €3m and it looks like that would be a very tempting proposition for such a quixotic player. However, there are “buts”. First of all – given the sale of Skóraś, Lech can’t afford to leave the other main attacking player. Skóraś has added 24 points to the Canadian standings this season, Velde 23. Also, Mikael Ishaks (29 points in Canada) is doubtful for the next few months. So, selling Lech to the Norwegian would have great financial opportunities (nearly 50 million PLN), but it would also dismantle the attack, which received 76 points in the Canadian ranking.
And secondly – in Lech they still believe that Velde’s ceiling is even higher. If the Norwegian repeated such a season, the people of Poznań could cry out an even bigger sum for this player, and he himself would pay by playing on the pitch.
So it looks like the 23-year-old will stay in the capital of Wielkopolska. Like Filip Marchwiński, he is attracting interest from Italian clubs. Mateusz Święcicki from Eleven reported e.g. that Empoli wanted him. But Lechita and the club themselves would rather wait another year.
Lech asks about Petrasek
Might as well go there. But fans are probably the most excited about incoming transfers. So what are the priorities of the people of Poznań? Left-back, centre-back (at least one) and two wingers.
As for the left-back, he is currently only provided by Barry Douglas. Alan Czerwiński can also play there from poverty. But Kolejorz is looking for the so-called “ones”, i.e. ultimately a player for the starting XI. There were several candidates here. Kamil Pestka, for example. Regarding Tymoteusz Puchacz’s return, while there were rumors linking him with Poznań. But there is no chance of such a move happening right now. Owl returns to Union after being loaned out to Panathinaikos. Although this season has not been successful for him, he will probably stay in Germany, but not in the Union. The club have several proposals for him, so it would be irrational for him to return to Lech.
Lech is constantly monitoring Florian Miguel’s situation. He is a 26-year-old Frenchman whose contract with Huesca (LaLiga 2) is about to expire. According to Tomasz Włodarczyk, Legia also joined the game here.
The biggest problem is with the center of defense. At the moment, Lech has two players to play – Antonio Milic and Filip Dagerstal. Maksymilian Pingot is also returning from a loan spell at Odra Opole. But there is still a question mark next to Bartosz Salamon. In Lech they believe in the innocence of the footballer, but assume a dark scenario – the B test must be checked before the start of the season. But Kolejorz knows that the chances of the B sample showing something different from the A sample are on the verge of statistical error. Or even less. That’s why he is looking for not only one stopwatch (for Satka), but also two (for Salamon).
And what’s interesting – Lech is seriously considering the option of Ekstraklasa. But less Michał Nalepa from Lechia Gdańsk, which has been written about recently, and more Tomas Petrasek. According to our information, Lech contacted the player and asked him if the Czech would be interested in such a transfer. And the latter can, after the expiration of his contract with Raków, calmly analyze the options he has on the table. And Kolejorz’s proposal is one of them.
If Petrasek went to Lech, he would probably be Ekstraklasa’s only transfer. There was talk of John Yeboahu, but the German is too expensive for Lech – Śląsk would expect at least 2.5 million euros, which would be twice the transfer record of the Poznań team. Warta Poznań’s Kajetan Szmyt is within Lech’s financial reach. We were the first to write that Warta made clear demands to the Ekstraklasa clubs: one million euros plus a percentage of the next transfer. But so far, none of the clubs in the Lech, Legia and Raków group have made such an offer. Therefore, the destinations we flagged earlier are more likely at this time – i.e. Austria, Switzerland, Turkey or MLS.
Transfers later
So it’s clear that Lech will sign at least four players in this transfer window. The sports department had a busy period behind them, when it was possible to extend contracts for, among others, Jesper Karlstroem, Filip Szymczak, Antonio Milic, Niki Kwekweskiri and today also Artur Sobiech. This latest signing ends talks to sign a new striker. Mikael Ishak’s health is of course uncertain, but from what we hear – Filip Szymczak is recovering quickly, having returned to training after knee surgery and should be able to play in the first days of preparations for the new season.
But it looks like Lech will make the transfers rather after the start of the season. John van den Brom does not insist on the transitions being made before the start of preparations. He assumes that with a long season he would rather have a good player, but in August, than an average player, admittedly at the start of the preparation period. That’s why Kolejorz is targeting his transfers – with the left-back cast, one of the stoppers and the winger. The other winger, stopper and possibly an additional central midfielder will be taken either by default as a competitive player (like Petrasek) or in the loan-to-buy option familiar to Poznań fans.
Recall that Lechia will return to the club on June 26 and they will go to Wronki for a pre-season training camp.
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