Rams rewarded for doing their homework on Bielik, Jozwiak
HEAD OF RECRUITMENT LOOKS AT HOW POLES ARRIVED AT DERBY
KRYSTIAN Bielik, with a cut by his right eye patched up, received the man of the match award after Derby County’s 1-0 victory over Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
The 23-year-old Polish international has become a key member of Derby’s team, a forceful figure in midfield.
He joined Derby from Arsenal in the summer of 2019 for a fee rising to £10m, signing a five-year deal.
His first season with the Rams was cut short by a serious knee injury, but he has now made 10 consecutive starts since returning to fitness.
He is joined in the team by compatriot Kamil Jozwiak, who signed from Lech Poznan last summer. The 22-year-old winger has made 17 starts this season, including the last nine matches.
But how did Derby manage to land the two Polish internationals who were relatively unknown to Rams fans?
In an interview in the club’s latest edition of the Rampage magazine, Luke Ingram spoke to head of recruitment Joe McClaren about the story behind the signings.
“The Academy scout very young, but as a first-team scouting department we start at under-18s,” said McClaren.
“We look at teams lower than us for buying options, but we also look at teams bigger than us for dropouts or future loans, which we have been successful with in the past.
“The reason we like to track them from young is you get a good idea of their trajectory. Have they got more in them or are they plateauing? Why have they done well as a youngster and is there still something we can get from them?
“Also, to see their character as well coming through the ranks. Have they played in big games and how have they reacted to them?
“We track those players for a long time and Krystian is one of them.
“He went to Arsenal when he was 16 and as soon as he touched down in England, we knew about him and we watched him. At the time, we were not watching him to sign as a permanent but definitely as a loan option.”
Bielik joined Charlton Athletic on loan for the 2018-19 season and, playing as a centre-back or a defensive midfielder, he helped the Addicks to promotion through the League One play-offs.
He was man of the match in the play-off final victory over Sunderland.
“He then went to Charlton Athletic on loan in League One, which is another league we have to cover strongly. We watched him in big games where he stepped up and brought the best out of his teammates,” McClaren recalled.
“Phillip Cocu came in (as Derby manager) and a holding midfielder was someone he needed. We presented Krystian and at the time he was in a crossroads at Arsenal and the permanent (transfer) option came up.
“Profile-wise, it fit perfectly. He was a Polish international, had just played in the Under-21 European Championships and, value-wise, we had good pedigree.
“With Krystian, we knew that he was well known all over Europe. So in terms of value protection, you know that people all over are watching him. An Italian team (AC Milan) were in for him at the time as well, so you knew everyone had eyes on him.
“Overall, it was a great profile and when it became apparent that we could do it on a permanent, it was a no-brainer.”
Jozwiak came through the youth system at Lech Poznan and made his debut in February 2016 at the age of 17. He also had a loan spell at GKS Katowice. He represent has represented his country at all age groups from under-16 to the senior side.
“Kamil was slightly different as that came through our European scouting,” said McClaren.
“He was flagged up on a video and our initial thoughts were that he had energy and a good attitude, so it was a good indicator that he could play in the Championship.
“We watched him more and noticed he created a lot of opportunities for team-mates, so we went to see him live. We watched Lech Poznan a number of times.
“Then we sought character references. We spoke to contacts over there to find out what type of person he is and can he adapt to England. That character is a massive part of bringing a player into the club. We needed to make sure we got that right and it was all good on him.
“We actually went for that deal in January last year. We asked the question, but it was not possible. We knew that we had to keep pushing it through by keeping good contact with the agent and wait for our next chance.
“We knew a winger was an important position for us, so we kept tracking and our persistence paid off.
“He played his way into the Polish national team and had a lot more powerful clubs looking at him than when we first started looking. It was great that Kamil and his representatives saw that Derby was the best place for him to move forward.
“Within that move, you see all the different types of recruitment parts in terms of flagging, video scouting, live scouting and character references, but also the communication with the agent and the player to make sure they understand why they should come to Derby.” ■■Read the full interview with Joe McClaren in Derby County’s 100-page monthly magazine The Rampage. To subscribe go to dcfc. co.uk.