Jakub Blaszczykowski: Liverpool Close in on Bundesliga Star Winger & Final Piece in Title Jigsaw?

Reports suggest Liverpool will launch a £5m bid for Borussia Dortmund winger Jakub Blaszczykowski in January once they manage to offload Jermaine Pennant to either Stoke or surprisingly Real Madrid.

Though the 23-year-old Polish international is relatively unknown of in this country who could may well turn out to be the final jigsaw in Rafa Benitez’s plan to win the Premier League as he’d finally add balance and class to the right-side of midfield without sacrificing the team’s work ethic.

Blaszczykowski is an attacking right winger and would finally provide expertise in that position to a Reds side that has been using Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt in that role. The Anfield giants remain top of the Premier League and have an extremely strong spine to their team but have been criticised for lacking the width to compete with fellow title chasers Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal. However, Albert Riera’s summer arrival and the increasing interest in Blaszczykowski suggests that the width and balance the team has been crying out for will be in place by the end of the month.

The Polish international begun his career with Wisla Krakow in his homeland. He made a total of 51 League appearances over 3 seasons and scored 4 goals before a 3 million Euro move to Germany.

In his first season in the Bundesliga, Blaszczykowski impressed playing the majority of the time on the right wing where his pace and dribbling ability could be used to maximum affect. However, he has also been used as a wing-back on occasions so his versatility would certainly appeal to Benitez.

The 5 ft 9 winger made 24 League appearances (22 starts) in his debut season for Borussia as the club finished a disappointing 13th. However, this season the team have performed well and are currently 6th in the Bundesliga having lost just 2 of their 17 League games. Blaszczykowski has played in every League match (14 starts) and his dynamic form has alerted Benitez to his talents.

The 23-year-old has made 19 appearances for his country and scored twice. He was unfortunate not to play a part at Euro 2008 as he had to withdraw through to injury despite being named in the squad. In fact, the winger was a key component to Poland’s excellent qualification campaign as was sorely missed in the finals. Blaszczykowski made his debut in March 2006 but was not called up to the final 2006 World Cup squad so has been rather unfortunate at international level.

If he does sign for Liverpool then their fans won’t have to worry about getting his long name on the back of their replica shirts as he usually has ‘Kuba’ on it as it is shortened version of his Christian name. If Benitez can bring in this quick, talented winger then Liverpool may well have the balance and the personnel to put an end to their 19-year wait for the title.

Do you feel the club needs a new right winger or are Dirk Kuyt and Jermaine Pennant good enough? Would the signing of a good right winger give the squad the quality to finally win the title? Let’s hear your views.

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Tags: Borussia Dortmund, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Liverpool, Poland, Wisla Krakow

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