Mateusz Musialowski
Liverpool’s Sadio Mané replacement?
Trent Alexander-Arnold is Liverpool’s long-term right back, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are their future in midfield, Kaide Gordon is Mo Salah’s eventual replacement on the right-wing but who is Sadio Mané’s heir on the left?
Many would argue that Diogo Jota, at just 24 years-old, is the Senegalese’s successor. However, he thrives through the middle and that is where he should stay in my opinion. The Reds could dip into the transfer market, although, the solution may well be right in front of their eyes.
Attracting interest from Ajax, Arsenal, Barcelona and RB Leipzig, Mateusz Musialowski signed for Liverpool from SMS Łódź in August 2020. The 5’7 left winger was placed in Mark Bridge-Wilkinson’s under 18s and enjoyed a remarkable debut season, scoring 12 in 25, as the side reached the FA Youth Cup final, losing to Aston Villa.
The pole loves to “twist the legs” of his opposition and his dribbling has earned comparisons with the likes of Lionel Messi and Eden Hazard. The goal that won him Liverpool’s goal of the month competition in March 2021 was certainly Messi-esque. The Pole took the ball just inside the opposition half, dribbled past five players before smashing it into the net. He told the club’s website, “I have seen a lot of Lionel Messi goals like that, so I try to be like him and I want to repeat it.”
Called up to senior training during the international break that same month, he impressed in an 11 vs 11 training match against the likes of Fabinho, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He then signed his first professional contract at the club in July 2020 before travelling to Austria for pre-season with the first-team, unfortunately he was unable to showcase his talent due to a knee injury.
Promoted to the Liverpool Under 23s at the start of the season, Musialowski has hit the ground running after initially struggling with the step-up. He failed to score in his first three games, however, the Katowice-born youngster has since scored 3-in-3, suggesting he has begun to acclimatise to the demands of Premier League 2 football. His first against Chelsea U23 was a stunning low drive into the bottom right corner to finish off a blistering counter-attack, his second, also against the Blues, was a close-range finish after a perfectly-timed run in behind. The shining moment of his career so far though, has to be his goal to open the scoring against Arsenal. Anfield, on his 18th birthday, Musialowski took the ball from around 30-yards out and dribbled into the box before slotting the ball through both defender and goalkeeper’s legs. When asked about his initial struggle to adapt, he told This is Anfield that he just “needed two or three games to get used to the tempo of the league.”
Fans, coaches and pundits are very excited by the progress of the diminutive winger; and the speed at which he has adapted to the English game certainly won’t do anything to dampen expectations. If he can adapt to the senior game at a similar pace whilst retaining his sensational dribbling skills and composure, then the sky is the limit.
The Verdict
The winger has shown that he can adapt to a higher level of football with relative ease. A player who models himself on the greatest of all-time, a composed finisher who isn’t afraid to run at defenders, everybody connected with the club should be excited about the future with Musialowski on the left-wing. If you haven’t heard of him, presumably because you don’t support Liverpool, you will have in a couple of years.