Profiling Lukasz Gikiewicz, Chennaiyin FC's new striker from Poland

Chennaiyin FC is set to be the 21st different club of his professional career.

Chennaiyin FC recently announced the signing of Polish striker Lukasz Gikiewicz for the upcoming season of the Indian Super League (ISL). In this piece, we will look at his career so far, and how he will fit into his new team. 

From a club perspective, this signing can prove to be crucial as they look to bounce back from a disappointing 2020-21 season marred by constant underperformance and an inability to convert chances into goals by the attackers. 

From the perspective of the player, the striker hopes to join a long list of strikers in the mould of target men who have found success in the league in the past few years. 

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Lukasz Gikiewicz: Early life and career so far

Born on the 26th of October 1987 in the city of Olsztyn, Gikiewicz spent the majority of his youth career at his hometown club Warmia Olsztyn. The Polish striker has a twin brother Rafal Gikiewicz, the first choice goalkeeper of Bundesliga side FC Augsburg. Rafal Gikiewicz has established himself as a Bundesliga quality-level 'keeper after his performances in the last few seasons with Union Berlin and FC Augsburg. Now getting back to his brother Lukasz. 

The Polish striker came to the limelight, as a teen, after his exploits for Wigry Suwalki and Unia Janikowo in the lower tiers of the Polish league system .

In 2010, the Chennaiyin man moved to Slask Wroclaw. He was mostly used as a backup forward in his three years at the club. It was around this time when a young Polish midfielder named Mateusz Klich was making waves in the league. Klich has gone to establish himself as a consistent player at a Premier League level. 

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Despite spending three years at Slask Wroclaw, Lukasz Gikiewicz could not force his way to the starting eleven and hence started looking for greener pastures. Prior to the start of the 2013-14 season, the forward moved to Cypriot club Omonia. His first season in Cyprus was his best season individually yet. He scored seven league goals while clocking 1568 minutes in 22 appearances in the league. 

Since then, Rafael Gikiewicz has had spells in Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Romania, and Thailand without much impact anywhere. Now aged 34, Chennaiyin is set to be the 21st different club of his professional career that has spanned for 17 years now. 

How does he play and how would he fit in Chennai?

Taking a quick glance at his videos, the first thing one sees is how well built Lukasz Gikiewicz is. Standing 6’2” and well-built, Gikiewicz is a monster when it comes to aerial duels and heading ability. He manages to sneak into good positions while attempting headers, and aggressively goes in for aerial duels. He attempted 11.8 aerial dues per 90 in AFC Cup last year for Jordan’s Al Faisaly. 

In an attacking sense, his heading ability, and his knack for getting into good positions inside the box look to be his biggest assets. When a cross comes in towards him, he positions himself close to the defender, makes a quick move, and then directs his header towards the goal. 

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He has a tendency to place his shots and headers towards the near post. Inside the box, he does not take a lot of touches before placing his shot. His off-the-ball movement is neat. He can be often seen occupying spaces between two central defenders and dragging his markers to create space for a ball-carrying teammate. His off-the-ball runs enable his teammates to time their actions well. 

Gikiewicz likes to drop deep and link up play quite a bit. Despite it not being his best attribute, he does it at a considerably good level. Immediately after receiving a pass deep, the forward scans for options to pass into rather than going for a dribble. 

The Polish striker does not dribble a lot but his holdup play and shielding of the ball is quite good. 

Despite not being the fastest of players, the striker goes in aggressively for loose ball challenges. His defensive work rate is excellent. Constantly pressing high up the pitch, going all-in for loose-ball challenges, and being aware of when to press and when not to press, Chennaiyin’s new recruit will be a bonus for them in this aspect. 

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However, consistency has been a problem for him all through his career. He has a very admirable skillset, does pretty much everything a striker is expected of at a fairly decent level but it is consistency that has stopped him from exploding. 

Why Chennaiyin have signed him

In terms of fitting in at Chennai, Lukasz Gikiewicz looks like a nice pickup considering how their new coach Bozidar Bandovic sets up his teams. Additionally, this signing bodes well with the number of players of his mould fitting well in the league. His on-the-ball ability comes as a bonus to Chennai as they look to bounce back and reach playoffs.

Chennaiyin will look upon Jobby Justin and Lukasz Gilkiwicz to deliver the goals this season especially after a nightmare 20/21 in terms of striker performances. It will be interesting to see how Lukasz Gikieiwcz fairs under a new coach in a new country. 

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