http://www.spurs.co.uk/article.asp?hlid=303150 We are delighted to announce that we have agreed with Derby County for the transfer of Polish international striker Grzegorz Rasiak, subject to the completion of certain formalities. The former Groclin Dyskobolia player joined Derby in September 2004 after a transfer to Italian Serie A side Siena was not registered with the football authorities. The move to Pride Park proved a great success and the 26-year-old netted 17 goals last season as Derby reached a play-off position. A powerful 6ft 3" frontman, Rasiak has already scored five goals this season with three coming at international level where he has been capped 20 times. "Rasiak is a tall target man, a hard working, honest player with a good goal scoring record,” commented Head Coach, Martin Jol. “He scored 45 goals in 103 games. He is a regular in the Polish international side which leads qualifying Group 6 just above England and he scored two against Israel in their recent 3-2 victory." "A lot is said about making the step up from the Championship to the Premiership, but Ashton and Bent have shown that for good players it is not such a big step. I believe he will do well for us and that he will be an asset to the squad." The Poland international joins Teemu Tainio, Paul Stalteri, Tom Huddlestone, Wayne Routledge, Aaron Lennon, Edgar Davids, Jermaine Jenas and Lee Young-Pyo in joining the Club since the end of last season, considerably strengthening Martin’s squad options.
Haven't seen much of him .. what do you think about him? Premiership quality .. ? Would like to know how his goal ratio was when he played in Poland.
thats awesome news ive been wondering who the next polish player will be to play in the english league. dudek has been fairly successful...except for some of the blunders that he has done this will be very good for poland...players playing in a quality league will only make them stronger. i hope more will follow soon
Rasiak is a good player. He has been the butt of many jokes in Poland because he is seen as a slower, bigger player. Sadly his nickname by some idiotic Polish fans has been "drewniak" - to translate loosley peg leg.However I think that he is quality. Great on set pieces, headers, not a bad shot, and surprisingly good vision (I don't know how many Polish fans remember that he set up many of Niedzielan's goals in Groclin and some on the national team). He made a nice comeback on the NT team earlier this month too. In a tournament Poland played that included Serbia, Israel and Ukraine he scored 3 goals which led the way not only for Poland but all the teams involved. The one he scored against Serbia was a beauty - powerful header right under the bar. I'm happy to see another Polish player in the Premiership.
what was that tournament called? i cant find any info about it... is there a link to it? and who won the tournament? and where did poland finish
Poland won the tournament, we beat Serbia in the first game 3-2 and we beat Israel by the same score. The tournament was named after Lobanovski and it was held in Kiev. Poland beats Israel 3-2 to win friendly tournament .c The Associated Press KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Substitute Grzegorz Rasiak scored twice Wednesday to lead Poland to a 3-2 win over Israel to win the Valery Lobanovsky exhibition tournament. Poland, which beat Serbia-Montenegro in the previous round, rallied from 2-1 down even though it had a player sent off in the 34th minute. Poland first led after 19 minutes, when midfielder Miroslaw Szymkowiak hit a powerful shot in off the frame of the goal. But Artur Boruc was sent off for a foul on Omer Golan in the 34th minute, letting Valeed Badeer make it 1-1 from the resulting penalty. Israel led three minutes after halftime when Yaniv Katan scored off a ricochet. Rasiak came on for Elizebiusz Smolarek and, three minutes later, beat the Israeli defense to level the scores. Soon after, he scored again to complete his team's comeback. Earlier Wednesday, Ukraine defeated Serbia-Montenegro 2-1 in a playoff for third-place. On Monday, Poland beat Serbia-Montenegro 3-2, while Israel beat Ukraine 5-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw. Lobanovsky, a former Soviet Union and Ukraine coach who died in 2002, coached Dynamo Kiev to eight Soviet league titles and 11 Ukrainian league championships. He also won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1975 and '86, and reached the semifinals of the 1999 Champions League. Lineups: Poland: Artur Boruc, Tomasz Rzasa, Jacek Bak (Mariusz Lewandowski 46), Tomasz Klos (Mariusz Jop 46), Michal Zewlakow (Andrzei Niedzielan 68), Elizebiusz Smolarek (Grzegorz Rasiak 73), Arkadiusz Radomski, Miroslaw Szymkowiak, Jacek Krzynowek (Kamil Kosowski 90), Maciej Zurawski, Tomasz Frankowski (Sebastian Przyrowski 35). Israel: Dudu Aouate, Alon Harazi, Ariel Banado (Moshe Biton 46), Shimon Gershon, Adoram Keisi, Valeed Badeer, Idan Tal, Yaniv Katan (Salim Toama 66), Klemi Saban (Yossi Shivon 90), Abbas Souan (Avi Yehiel 78), Omer Golan (Pini Balili 72).
Season Club App Goals ------------------------------------------------ 2000/01 Odra Wodzisław Śląski 28 9 2001/02 Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski 26 14 2002/03 Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski 22 10 2003/04 Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski 18 10 2004/05 Derby County FC 35 16
Interesting signing. I think Spurs will find Rasiak to be a good signing. I think he is a good target man that Spurs have not really had. I think he will link up well with Defoe, Mido and/or Robbie Keane when he is in there. I was reading all yesterday how Rasiak might be on his way to Wolves, but then this happened and I was shocked. I am happy for Rasiak and I hope he does well. Spurs have spent mad cash this summer brining new players in.
if you wanna see rasiak's goal vs serbia and crnagora, its here: http://tvp.pl/video/2005/08/15/46091/film.asf really high quality header
Honestly, I don't understand the reason of this nickname. I could never understood why had this player so many enemies, especially among Polish football fans. I agree that he was playing poorly some year ago, but, first, they were always plenty of weak players in our international games, and, most importantly, he had very good season 2005/06. And now he made big impact. I think he will succeed at Whita Hart Lane because he is modest and has good work-rate. He already shown that he can cope with problems.
If it's a toss up between Rasiak and Mido, I think that Rasiak wins out that competition, as he is a more natural partner for Defoe. I don't think that he was that great in his first match for Tottenham, but then again he just joined the team two days beforehand.