Grzegorz Rasiak

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Grzegorz Rasiak
Personal information
Full name	Grzegorz Rasiak
Date of birth	12 January 1979 (1979-01-12) (age 29)
Place of birth	Szczecin, Poland
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Southampton
Number	-
Youth clubs
	Olimpia Poznań SKS 13 Poznań MSP Szamotuły
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1996–1998 1998–2000 2000–2001 2001–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006 2006 2006– 2008	Warta Poznań GKS Bełchatów Odra Wodzisław Dyskobolia Grodzisk Derby County Tottenham Hotspur → Southampton (loan) Southampton → Bolton Wanderers (loan)	28 0(9) 66 (34) 41 (18) 08 0(0) 13 0(4) 62 (24) 07 0(0)
National team2
2002–	Poland	37 0(8)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:34, 29 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 23:58, November 21, 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Grzegorz Rasiak (pron. IPA: [ˈgʐɛgɔʂ ˈraɕak], Gzhegosh Rashak) born January 12, 1979 in Szczecin, is a Polish international footballer who currently plays for Southampton.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Poland 1.2 Derby County 1.3 Tottenham Hotspur 1.4 Southampton 1.5 Bolton Wanderers 2 International career 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Poland

Grzegorz Rasiak started his football career with Olimpia Poznań, before moving on to SKS 13 Poznań and MSP Szamotuły.

In the 1996–97 season he joined Warta Poznań where he spent two seasons, before moving on again to GKS Bełchatów. In the 2000–01 season he played for Odra Wodzisław and then moved to the club where he first achieved a level of success, Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski. In three seasons at Dyskobolia he played in 66 league matches, in which he scored 34 goals, forming a partnership in 2003–04 with Andrzej Niedzielan.

In 2004 he was recruited by Italian club AC Siena. It turned out that he could not play, because the team had already exceeded its quota of foreigners.

[edit] Derby County

He then found his way to English Championship club, joining them on 24 September 2004. In his first season in England he scored 16 goals in 35 matches, as Derby finished in fourth place, but failed to get through the play-offs.

After failing to gain promotion, the club were under financial pressure and were forced by their bankers to raise cash^[1], which led to Rasiak being sold to Tottenham Hotspur on the evening of transfer deadline day for a fee said to be up to £2m.

For further details on the transfer see the article on Derby's chief executive, Jeremy Keith.

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

On 31 August 2005 (the last day of the transfer window) Grzegorz joined Tottenham Hotspur. On his arrival, manager Martin Jol described Rasiak as "a tall target man, a hard-working, honest player with a good goal scoring record."^[2]

[edit] Southampton

In February 2006, Rasiak was loaned from Spurs to Southampton, where his former manager George Burley was now manager. The deal was structured initially as a three-month loan, before becoming permanent in early May 2006,^[3] with Rasiak joining Southampton for a fee of £2m.

In the 2006–07 season he had a superb start, scoring 17 league goals, plus 2 FA cup goals by mid-January, including scoring a brace 4 times in the league and once in the FA Cup, all in away matches. After mid-January his form dropped and he lost his place in the starting eleven to fellow countryman Marek Saganowski, finishing the season with 21 goals making him the Saints' leading goalscorer for the season.

[edit] Bolton Wanderers

On 31 January 2008, Rasiak secured a loan move to Bolton Wanderers until the end of the season,^[4] and made his debut nine days later in a defeat against Portsmouth at the Reebok Stadium.

His second appearance came during the second half of Bolton's local derby against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park where he scored within a couple of minutes of his introduction from the substitutes bench only for the linesman to rule the goal out for offside.

[edit] International career

Rasiak made his international debut for Poland on 10 February 2002 in a friendly match with Faroe Islands under manager Jerzy Engel. He then had to wait a year before his next international appearance under Paweł Janas, before becoming a regular in the Polish team.

Rasiak has made 34 appearances for his country, scoring on 8 occasions, and was part of the team that successfully qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was selected for the 23-men national squad that competed at the Cup finals in Germany.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Grzegorz Rasiak career stats at Soccerbase
• Player profile on 90minut.pl (Polish)
• National team stats on pzpn.pl (Polish)
• Article on bbc.co.uk - Rasiak's return

v • d • e Poland squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Boruc • 2 Jop • 3 Gancarczyk • 4 Baszczyński • 5 Kosowski • 6 Bąk • 7 Sobolewski • 8 Krzynówek • 9 Żurawski • 10 Szymkowiak • 11 Rasiak • 12 Kuszczak • 13 Mila • 14 Żewłakow • 15 Smolarek • 16 Radomski • 17 Dudka • 18 Lewandowski • 19 Bosacki • 20 Giza • 21 Jeleń • 22 Fabiański • 23 Brożek • Coach: Janas

v • d • e Southampton F.C. – current squad 1 Davis • 2 Östlund • 3 Thomas • 4 Saganowski • 6 Powell • 8 Wright-Phillips • 10 J. Wright • 11 Surman • 12 Lička • 13 Białkowski • 15 Euell • 16 Viáfara • 17 McGoldrick • 18 Dyer • 19 Makin • 20 Lallana • 22 Gillett • 23 James • 25 Poke • 26 Baseya • 27 Idiakez • 30 Safri • 31 John • 35 Davies • -- Perry • -- Holmes • Manager: Poortvliet