Krzysztof Piatek: Poland’s heir to the Lewandowski throne
As far as international dilemma’s are concerned, having ‘too many’ hotshot strikers is among the most welcome. Poland’s predicament at present would be the envy of most countries in world football, with Robert Lewandowski undeniably the leading man for the national team but facing increasingly stiff competition from those in reserve.
Arkadiusz Milik often plays second fiddle to the Bayern hitman at international level and is fully fit after a string of serious injuries, while Sampdoria’s David Kownacki was seen as the man that would eventually replace the country’s all-time top scorer once the 21-year-old comes of age.
However, there’s a new man on the scene determined to ruffle some feathers in the Poland pecking order, and Krzysztof Piatek’s startling start to his Genoa career has not gone unnoticed.
Plucked from the relative obscurity of mid-table Cracovia in his homeland over the summer, none could have predicted quite the impression that the striker would make in Europe’s top five leagues. The leap from the Ekstraklasa to Serie A is considerable after all, but the 23-year-old had made it seem like a baby step.
The youngster fired in an impressive 21 goals in Poland’s top-flight last season, attracting Genoa’s interest, but the Italian outfit wouldn’t have expected him to come close to that figure as he acclimatised to a new country and league. That said, the club were desperate to find a new marksman to call upon having lost the likes of Iago Falque, Leonardo Pavoletti and Giovanni Simeone in seasons gone by, with Gianluca Lapadula failing to make the desired impact last season.
The former Milan striker scored just six league goals last season, though that was a tally good enough to lead Geona’s scoring charts.It’s remarkable to think that just seven games into his time at the club, Piatek has already improved on that figure by 50 per cent, with an outstanding nine goals enough to lead the way not only for his club but across Europe’s top five leagues too.
The striker has scored in every one of his appearances for his new club thus far, including all four goals in the Coppa Italia win over Lecce on his competitive debut, totalling 13 strikes in just eight matches to date. His goals have directly earned the club seven of their 12 points so far, which bizarrely was a tally that, after just seven games, was not enough to keep coach Davide Ballardini in a job following the 3-1 defeat to Parma last time out.
His smart headed finish early on at the weekend ensured the Pole became the first player since Gabriel Batistuta to score in seven successive Serie A matches, and his trademark gun-fingers celebration has already become common place.
It’s perhaps the team’s reliance on Piatek - along with the inevitable fact that his strike rate will begin to drop - that was concerning chairman Enrico Preziosi. Only two other Geona players have scored this season, with the Polish forward’s league tally accounting for 75 per cent of his team’s overall haul.
In fairness to his new teammates, however, the service to their new striker has been impressive, whose 5.3 shots per game is second only to Cristiano Ronaldo in Serie A despite playing for a bottom half team. All nine of Piatek’s league strikes have come from open play too, with Kylian Mbappe’s six the closest challenge across Europe.
From Piatek’s perspective, the fact that he is competing for places in the national team with two top class strikers is somewhat unfortunate, but on current form there is no question as to Poland’s most prolific option right now. While Lewandowski and Milik have three goals apiece, the Genoa hotshot has three more than the duo combined. The former won’t be fearing for his place just yet, but new coach Jerzy Brzeczek will surely want to find a way of fitting Europe’s top goalscorer into his lineup, with an important Nations League double header with Portugal and Italy in the offing.
