It was touch and go there, for a while. But, despite a difficult first season away from Ibrox, the former Rangers man can breath a sigh of relief now.
Signing only a one-year contract when his time at the Glasgow giants came to an end during the summer of 2023, one of the more forgettable signings of Rangers‘ recent history was facing up to the very real prospect of finding himself without a club on July 1st and looking for fresh employment for the second year in a row.
And when he was dropped to the reserves following a poor run of form in the spring, the prospect of Mateusz Zukowski leaving Slask Wroclaw and becoming a free-agent felt like a very real possibility.
Especially after he was labelled, somewhat harshly by one pundit, as the ‘worst in the league‘ in his position..
“Mateusz Zukowski got over a thousand minutes this season. As of today, he has zero assists and zero goals,” Slask coach Jaciek Magiera said back in April, once againtaking to the media in an almost Mourinho-like attempt to bring some fire out of the former Poland Under-21 international.
“We demand much more from him. He has enormous potential and skills. However, he does not provide this in league matches. The most important thing is how he reacts and what he does about it.”
Former Rangers youngster turns around his season
Zukowski, fortunately, reacted pretty well.
Instead of letting his head drop and his confidence fritter away, Zukowski appeared to approach his new role in the Slask Wroclaw reserves not as an insult but an opportunity.
The one-time Rangers benchwarmer scored four times in three appearances for the reserves, including a hat-trick against Odra Bytom. Zukowski forced his way back into Magiera’s plans as a result, featuring in each of the final six first-team games and even opening his account for the senior side with an effort the club’s official website described as ‘phenomenal’.
“Mateusz Zukowski shows that sometimes you have to wait for him,” Magiera said following the confirmation of 22-year-old’s new two-year contract, delighted to see his ‘tough love’ approach work wonders
“Some players need more time to start up’. I deliberately left him (out of the squad) for three Ekstraklasa matches so that he could gain self-confidence in the reserves.”
Magiera could be forgiven, then, for toasting a job well done.
A bright future awaits Mateusz Zukowski
A £400,000 signing from Legia Gdansk in January 2022, Zukowski never made a single Scottish Premiership appearance for the Glasgow giants. That, of course, owed much to the formidable consistency of James Tavernier.
While Zukowski is now playing further forward back home in Poland, he joined Rangers as a right-back. And that put him in direct competition with the club’s talismanic skipper.
“Let me make it clear right away. Yes, today we can say that it was not a successful transfer,” former Rangers scout Piotr Kasprzak told Goal on the other side of Christmas.
“However, I remember (Zukowski’s) first months at the club. The feedback was very positive, from the staff and the players. Physical tests? Top three, maybe top five, in each category.
“But we reached the final of the Europa League that season, James Tavernier played in Mateusz’s position. And how he played… There weren’t many options for rotation.
“Tavernier was the captain.”
