From the beginning of Fernando Santos’ employment as the head coach of the Polish national team, there was talk of the possibility of finding and employing a suitable Polish assistant. It was close to signing a contract with Łukasz Piszczek and Tomasz Kaczmarek, but the first refused and the second did not fit the concept of the Portuguese. Among the potential candidates, several more names appeared in the media. Santos’ favorite was Grzegorz Mielcarski, but PZPN is not to be convinced by him, which causes a problem. In March, there may be no Polish assistant in Santos’ coaching staff.
Staff without a Polish assistant
Fernando Santos has been the coach of the Polish national team since January 24. Since then, he managed to settle in Warsaw, get to know the reality of the Ekstraklasa and talk to the most important players of the national team. He has not yet managed to find a Polish assistant to his staff, although on Monday it seemed that he was really close to it.
The Portuguese player knows Grzegorz Mielcarski well, whom he trained at FC Porto and AEK Athens. He boasted that he would be a perfect fit for his staff.
– I need a versatile person who fulfills other tasks – someone who knows and understands the players, who knows me, my character, who understands my actions and behavior. I need someone who knows who I am, Fernando Santos. Grzegorz Mielcarski meets all the criteria. I know him, I trust him, but I will not make the final decision. Too many staff means clutter and unnecessary confusion. I need a person who will help me during the training camp, but I don’t know if the PZPN will agree to Grzegorz. The discussion continues – Santos said in an interview with “Przegląd Sportowy”.
PZPN has already talked with Mielcarski about potential employment. – We talked about cooperation, now the ball is on Grzegorz’s side. Coach Santos knows Grzegorz and would like to have a trusted person in the staff. What role would he see him in, in what position? I leave it to the coach – said the president Cezary Kulesza a few days ago in an interview for WP SportoweFakty.
Mielcarski is the number one candidate on the list, but according to the latest news, we may not see him in Santos’ staff. PZPN, despite talks with the former player, is not fully convinced of him. It is true that there is no pressure on the Portuguese with the election date, he has a free hand here, but ultimately Kulesza and secretary general Łukasz Wachowski are to accept his choice.
“On the one hand, we have a trainer who has already chosen and is waiting for the union’s response. On the other hand, the union and waiting for the coach’s decision” – we read on TVP Sport.
Earlier, Radosław Michalski, a member of the board of the PZPN, the head of the Pomeranian ZPN, added fuel to the fire. He told several times about the backstage of Santos’ work, as well as about the situation with Mielcarski, that he was not Kulesza’s favorite and he himself did not see himself in the national team because “he expected more competence than the president wanted to give him”.
In addition, Mielcarski does not have a trainer’s license and has never associated his future with this profession.
At the moment, the situation is that the Santos coaching staff will be without a Polish assistant at the March training camp of the Polish national team before the matches against the Czech Republic (March 24) and Albania (March 27) as part of the Euro 2024 qualifiers. The Portuguese has no great urge to cooperate with the Polish assistant just now. It is possible that in the spring the situation will change and the topic will return like a boomerang.
“For the time being, Santos does not really see the need to strengthen the squad. He moved to Poland with his colleagues who were with him in the Portuguese and Greek national teams,” TVP Sport believes.
