Though Riccardo Saponara has been the main highlight of Empoli’s season, the club’s talented young Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski is a definitely a prospect to watch.
What You Need to Know
Full Name: Piotr Zielinski
Date of Birth: May 20, 1994 (21 years old)
Position: Central/ attacking midfielder
Nationality: Polish
Current Club: Empoli (on loan from Udinese)
International Caps: U-15 (5, 1 goal), U-16 (6), U-17 (10, 1 goal), U-18 (5, 1 goal), U-19 (15, 5 goals), U-20 (3, 1 goal), U-21 (7, 1 goal), Senior (11, 3 goals)
Who is Piotr Zielinski?
Hailing from the South-Western Polish town of Ząbkowice Śląskie, Zielinski’s career as a football player started at KGHM Zagłębie Lubin, some 140 kilometers to the north of his home town. Soon earning a transfer to Italian youth farm Udinese Calcio, he made his first Primavera appearance with his new club in January of 2012, scoring twice and picking up two cautions in his 12 debut campaign matches. Making further strides during his second year in Italy, the youngster’s scintillating form earned the Pole a call up to the Zebrette senior side. Francesco Guidolin fielded the teenager nine times in total during 2012/13, with Zielinski even picking up a couple of assists despite playing non-league equivalent football only a year previously. His massive strides that season attracted attention from many foreign clubs, including the two Manchester powerhouses, who in the summer of 2013 were linked with moves to bring in the highly-touted prospect.
In his second professional season however, Zielinski largely stagnated and was relegated to the bench for the majority of Udinese’s ill-fated Serie A campaign, not making a single start the entire time. As a result much of the hype he generated the previous year died down, leaving the player hungry to prove himself as more than another failed talent. Jumping on the opportunity to get playing time, he was loaned out to newly-promoted Empoli in the summer of 2014. Not making much of an impact, he was mostly shunted to the bench in favour of a variety of other players, dashing his dreams of consistent starts once again. Though he continued to improve many of his skills, he did not get many opportunities to showcase them, starting just seven matches throughout the duration of his loan. Retained for 2015/16, it seemed during the summer that this could be Zielinski’s “do or die” campaign. Either he would make something of himself, or he’d go down as yet another failed venture into eastern European prospects. Fortunately for him, the 21-year-old has thus far had a marvelous showing, co-spearheading Empoli’s exciting run to eighth place going into the winter break.
Despite only turning 21 half a year ago, Zielinski is already an international veteran. Debuting on the world stage at the tender age of 14 with Poland’s under-15 side, he has represented his nation at every level up to the senior national team side. Marking his first senior Biało-czerwoni cap with a substitute appearance against Liechtenstein in June of 2013, he has thus far played 11 matches under the tutelage of head coach Adam Nawałka. He’s netted three times since his debut- a double in a World Cup qualifier against San Marino and single strike in a friendly victory over Denmark, all coming in 2013.
VERONA, ITALY – DECEMBER 06: Piotr Zielinski of Empoli FC competes for the ball with Luca Siligardi of Hellas Verona FC during the Serie A match between Hellas Verona FC and Empoli FC at Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi on December 6, 2015 in Verona, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Strengths and Weaknesses
Zielinski’s biggest strengths lie in his distribution of the ball. Boasting a respectable 81% pass completion rate, Zielinski isn’t the team’s main engine for churning out passes, but when he gets the ball, he gets it where it needs to be the vast majority of the time. His link ups with Riccardo Saponara generate a lot of potential for chance creation, and Zielinski has thus far assisted four of his club’s 23 goals, providing on average nearly two goal-scoring opportunities per match. The Pole is also gifted technically, and has won the majority of his take-ons, meaning that he has a better chance of finding open space to make a pass than a less technical player.
Though his passing is great, the 21-year-old still has a long way to go before he can be considered a premier Serie A midfielder. First and foremost, his form in front of goal is quite abysmal. To date, he has scored just a single goal in over 60 professional matches. And while it isn’t his job to score, the occasional goal from him wouldn’t hurt, especially since he seems to try to score during practically every match anyway. His height also makes him naturally weak in the air, but Zielinski doesn’t do much to make up for it. He is frequently muscled away from making significant contributions, and while it is expected that a player of his stature won’t be bossing around two-meter tall defenders, the Pole needs to have a bit more fire in him when coming up against large players. Buffing up his pass completion a little would also improve his game immensely, as every additional completed pass holds within it potential for a goal-making attack.
2016 and Beyond
Going into the new year, Zielinski is showing no signs of slowing down. Barring a massive investment by Empoli into the central midfield position, he should be keeping his starting spot for the foreseeable future, provided his form doesn’t take a tumble. Continuing on the trend he is right now, there is potential for the youngster to get a move to a club a bit more prestigious than Empoli or Udinese, however if he doesn’t patch up the holes in his game he will find himself scrounging for minutes at anything greater than a mid-sized team. But he is still young, and writing off a player at 21 is often a grave mistake. Zielinski is certainly one to watch going forward, and with some discipline and proper tutelage he may yet one day follow in the footsteps of his many storied compatriots.
The post Player Focus: Piotr Zielinski appeared first on IFD.
from IFD http://ift.tt/1QWIp8t
via IFTTT berita selengkapnya Follow @jadwalliga
