Tomczyk is betting on himself

It was supposed to have been Spain? Or a club from England? Or maybe a move to Belgium? The options available to Poland U17 star striker Oskar Tomczyk last summer seemed endless. Labeled as potentially one of the players who could eventually fill Robert Lewandowski's national team void after he retires.

Tomczyk was one of the key players for one of the most successful age groups in Polish youth football history. In U16, he scored 11 goals in 9 matches. For the U17, he scored 12 goals in 14 matches, including a goal in the U17 European championships. 

And then his young career seemed to shift off track. His form began to struggle, with his graduating class on the U18 Tomczyk's numbers dropped to just 3 goals in 6 matches. His playing time also was reduced. He went from being one of the key players on the team, to a player just fighting for minutes late in matches. 

And then Tomczyk was one of the guilty culprits of the alcohol scandal that took place with the U17 national team. The young Lech Poznan player and his three teammates were caught drinking alcohol by the coach. It was the worst possible moment for the boys, because the team was about to start the U17 World Cup hosted by Indonesia in a few days. All four players were send home. 

What should've been the biggest moment to date of their young careers, it turned out to be a massive set back. The players returned back to Poland and rejoined their youth club teams and began the process of embarrassment and humiliation. For Tomczyk, he returned to Lech Poznan and soon after hired a new agency. Gone were the Spanish, English, Belgian and Danish clubs but Tomczyk most likely still needed a change of scenery. 

His stock domestically didn't drop off that much, with teams seeing a lot of potential in developing the player and then reestablishing a market for him to sell him to a European club for a nice profit. Tomczyk had offers from all the major Polish clubs, Legia Warszawa, Pogoń Szczecin and Śląsk Wrocław, among others.

After some deliberating, Tomczyk chose his next destination and it shocked everyone: Wisła Płock. The 1 liga club currently sits in 7th place in the 18 team division (Teams 3-6 play in a playoff for final promotion spot). 

And this move might just be perfect and i'll tell you why.

Sometimes for a player when theres just so much that has happened in such a short period of time its good to just reset and take a step back. It's also a much quicker path to getting playing time then it would've been for a major club that's fighting for a European spot. Tomczyk needs to show he can play against men, and has to show he can sustain the physicality of the league. With his youth resume, if he can show he can compete and improve weekly in a league where he'll most likely be the youngest player, his stock will sky rocket. 

The move to Płock also gets him out of the spotlight that he would've been in a major city. Constant questions about playing time, form and what happened on that forgettable night in Indonesia. Tomczyk won't have to worry about that playing in a much smaller market for a good manager Dariusz Żuraw who will protect his prized possesson. Żuraw spend a lot of his career in Germany and coached Lech Poznan, he'll know how to deal with media when the occasion happens. Something that would've been much harder in a larger market. 

Lastly, and the best part, is Tomczyk is betting on himself. He dug himself in a hole and there's only one person that can get him out of it, and thats him. No matter how much people on the outside can try to help, he is the only one in control of his career. He will decide where it goes.  He is betting that he can go there, prove he can be a good teammate, learn from the veterans in the room, listen to the coach, work hard and adjust to different schemes against him by opponents. 

It's not the most usual path but theres many paths to where ultimately Tomczyk wants to go. And a player who bets on himself is a player always worth rooting for.