Who is Sebastian Kowalczyk?
(image via Getty Images)
The Houston Dynamo, as of reports yesterday, are being heavily linked with Polish midfielder Sebastian Kowalczyk. The news was reported yesterday afternoon by Polish media outlet Radio Szczecin. As always, rumors must be taken with a grain of salt. This became more then just a rumor when Glenn Davis tweeted out that his sources say it is true, but not over the line as of yet. When Glenn Davis confirms it, then you know there is lots of validity to the story. For further confirmation, Tom Bogert of The Athletic also reports that a deal is being finalized. But who exactly is Sebastian Kowalczyk?
Who is Sebastian Kowalczyk?
Kowalczyk, to this point, has played his entire career in Poland for Pogon Szczecin. Pogon Szczecin have been playing in the Polish top-flight for the entirety of Kowalczyk’s career so far. They have even managed to finish third in the division two separate times with Kowalczyk. He has been a regular player for the club since the 2018/2019 season when he was only 19 years old. Since then, he has made close to, or more than, 30 league appearances every season. While in his first two seasons he was not much of a contributor in terms of goals and assists, the last two seasons have seen him contribute 12 goals over both seasons. In this past season he managed to get six goals and six assists in 2,159 minutes played. He started most of those games playing in midfield, but also drifted wide in a lot of games as well.
What kind of player is Kowalczyk?
As always, when the Dynamo are linked to a new player, I like to check out his profile in the game Football Manager. For those who have never played it, out of any soccer game out there, it has the most scouting and accuracy put into player profiles. It is always a useful tool to get an idea of what a player is and is not good at, especially when playing in a league Football Reference does not have detailed stats for. The game depicts him as both a winger and an attacking midfielder that is predominantly right footed. What screams out the most to me is his incredible mental attributes. He has an 18, on a scale of 20, in both work rate and teamwork, a 17 in both leadership and determination, and a 15 in flair and off the ball. These all show that his strengths play very well into the type of players Ben Olsen likes on his roster. Football Manager have his best positions as an inverted winger and a central advanced playmaker. Being he is listed as an advanced playmaker, expect him to be more of a creator then a guy to score loads of goals. His contract situation has him making $73,500 per year until the end of the 2025 season. On similar wages this would put him as one of the cheaper contracts on the Dynamo.
What does he bring to the Houston Dynamo?
It is clear that Ben Olsen loves players with leadership qualities and a high work rate on his team and that is exactly what Kowalczyk brings to the table. He will be turning 25 in August, so that puts him around a similar age range to Coco Carrasquilla and Amine Bassi. Like those players mentioned, expect Kowalczyk to be played in a similar position to them. Ben currently likes to play with two attacking midfielders, Coco and Bassi. There is a severe lack of depth behind them with Hector Herrera, Ivan Franco, and Corey Baird filling in when they have been absent. Neither Baird nor Herrera are natural in that position and Franco has been underperforming his expectations. Bringing in a player that can challenge Bassi and Coco for a starting spot while also being able to challenge Quinones and Baird on the left wing brings in much needed competition. While Amine Bassi has been excellent from the spot, he has dipped in performance multiple stretches of this season. Having someone else who can create for Aliyu Ibrahim will be key to his development. This also puts the Dynamo in a much better position in case Coco Carrasquilla gets sold this summer. There has been loads of chatter over a potential exit for Carrasquilla, so this signing just makes too much sense. Especially when there can be a situation Coco exits after the MLS transfer window closes on August 2nd.
Do Polish players usually succeed in MLS?
There has been loads of Polish talent over recent seasons in MLS. Some of those names include Mateusz Bogusz at LAFC, Karol Swiderski and Kamil Jozwiak who play in Charlotte, Mateusz Klich at DC United, Przemyslaw Frankowski formerly of Chicago, and Adam Buksa formerly of New England. This season both Klich and Swiderski have been two of the more under the radar stars in MLS. Both players are key to their team’s playoff pushes in the Eastern Conference. Frankowski and Buksa were both star players in MLS before being transferred to Ligue 1 in France. While Buksa struggled to fit in there, Frankowski was a key player making 8 goal contributions from right back as Lens finished 2nd only a point behind Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe’s PSG squad.
Is this a positive signing?
While not the biggest name or most exciting transfer, this is a signing that will fill a much-needed hole in the roster that could potentially grow even larger in the coming weeks. Kowalczyk’s work rate and ability to cover multiple positions will add loads of strength in depth to this squad, something that has been seriously lacking all season. Will this signing be enough to push the Dynamo into the playoffs? We will have to wait and see!
