Galaxy After Celtic’s Zurawski?

By: Laurie | December 9th, 2007

News reports from all over the place are reporting that the Galaxy are after Polish international striker Maciej Zurawski.

(And I’ll give a cookie to the first person to give me a pronunciation guide. Although I don’t know why I’m asking. Wikipedia says “pronounced Match-eh ZHuravskee” and we all know Wikipedia is never wrong.)

He’s currently playing (or not playing, as the case may be) with the Scottish side Celtic.

I know it’s been awhile, boys and girls, but let’s brush up on our lessons for the upcoming year. What are my criteria for a foreign player to be linked to the Galaxy? Anybody remember?

1) Is he European? Yes, I believe my geography lessons said Poland was in Europe
2) Is he over thirty? Birthdate September 12, 1976. My math says 31.
3) Is he currently in a “transitional phase” of his career? Reports say he’s frustrated with his lack of playing time.

Yes to all three! By all means, sign the man! Although I will be the first to greet him with roses if he can deliver the goods. Meaning: score.

And I’ll end with this interesting quote from his agent, which made me go, “Hmmm….”

“The offer from Galaxy is very serious,” he told the Scottish Daily Mail. “They are really determined to sign Maciej and treat him as a big star. I am flying to Los Angeles this weekend to make things official.”

I’ll be doing more research later to try to figure out if he’s the answer to all of our problems.

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: Player News, Preparing for 2008, Transfer Rumors

« Gullit Tops League in Salary. Or: How Much Does Sexy Football Cost? | Home | Zurawski Video: Judge for Yourselves »

adriano

I'm sure a magic żurawski is good. in first season in mls he
must scored.he go to euro2008. in euro plays wery strong teams. in us he mus be top scored. bacouse he is from poland. he is a white. żurawski must play in los angeles galaxy!
winrar

Signing him is quite risky indeed. But ..! He still has potential to perform great goals etc. He definately has skills , striker instinct and A PERSONALITY which is why he is Poland's national teams captain. Since Beckham and Donovan are there to serve him with good passes.. i guess he can make it.. and MLS is the only league he can go by now since coming back to Poland would be a step back as awell as moving to some secondary divisions forgotten clubs.... or any old time european glories . Galaxy is the place to be for him. IF he does well and will be given a chance to play.
albert

I think you have to sign him, he'll be very determined to play good because he wants to play on EURO 2008!
Polish Żurawski's Fan

I've been reading what Tom has wrote ("Every report I’ve seen from Polish and Celtic fans suggests this guy is done.") - He isn't!!! It's simple that he can't scores for Celts 'cause don't plays! Am I wrong? in Polish National Team he's playing regularly (without goals, but being a midfielder there!)
Yankee Revolution

I really hope he comes here! There are quite a few good young Polish players playing domestically in Poland. They could make a few extra bucks if they came to the US before hitting the main leagues in Europe. Who knows though, with Poland in the EU, they could easily go to Championship/Bundisliga 2 sides.

Let's hope Zurawski does come to the MLS because he's certainly not washed up, not yet anyway.
bluemeanies

Is he really willing to play for less than 325k? Because if he's not the Gals (or Chicago for that matter which has historically been the main destination for Polish MLS players but has used their DP) aren't going to sign him. Columbus (open DP spot, pandering to a decent sized ethnic population) seems like it might be a better fit.
mag

Ok,so they buy a striker. Maybe it's good,I thought that our first priorety to bring left leg winger and diffender with some "brains",who can read situation before it happens- now we doesn't have one. Half-back would be good as well,better 25-27 years old,so we could but Becks on the right. From what I saw in last games in Australia,Becks is waste of time in VERY deep midfield. He did nothing there exept got knocked.
Well any way Gulith will use him there till we have nobody to make a job.
joe

As recently as two years ago he was hailed as one of Poland's most gifted players (which is around the time Celtic signed him, I believe). As D above posted, he had a very successful first season at Celtic but as Strachan brought in more strikers, and with injuries, Zurawski moved down in the pecking order. Now he sits on the Celtic bench is regularly a starter for the Polish national side - captain, in fact.

While I generally agree that MLS needs to stop bringing in over-30-year-olds who are benchwarmers/on the out abroad, I think the case with Zurawski may be different--so long as they don't overpay! I think he can have a pretty similar impact to that of Juan Pablo Angel (no, really) at a similar price, maybe lower. With Beckham and Donovan providing him service, I'd be willig to bet Zurawski would have an outstanding season.

And don't worry...Pavon he is not...! Why do the heads at MLS think that being the top scorer in the Gold Cup means anything??? Ugh. Anyway, Zurawski is far superior to any of Galaxy's current out-and-out strikers.
D

It is Ma-chey Zhur-av-ski. Celtic fans call him Magic because Maciej was too hard to pronounce.

In response to Misareaux's comments, he had 16 goals in 20 games during his first SPL season. If he didn't perform they would have dropped him during his first season. Celtic recently signed Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Scott McDonald, which is why he's not starting.

He is frustrated that he is not playing because he wants to be ready for Euro 2008 in which Poland will be playing.
Matt

Ye can have him!
Laurie

Since I have no idea which pronunciation is correct, cookies all around for providing alternatives. :-)
UpTheHoops

Here in Scotland, we pronounce it Magic Zooravski.

Hope that helps. :o)
glen

I hope it's not Pavon part deux. I think everyone has had enough of the frustration we have come to be known as... no offense. Lets get a quality player (which who knows, maybe Zurawski is the one) that can take advantage of Beckhams crosses
George

I'm not sure about the pronunciation, though.
George

I thought it was pronounced MAH-chay zur-OW-skee.

Melissa, the quote was from Maciej's agent, not Maciej.
Misareaux

Zurawski's Sky Sports profile has a story about him trying to get back into the first team by scoring/performing well for the reserves. While Celtic is a great team, the SPL excluding Old Firm is supposedly the level of MLS. He'll probably be fine with the physical nature of our game but I think he's over the hill like Tom said. Stats from the last few seasons and his placing on Celtic's roster definitely suggest a striker who didn't perform when signed, and now isn't give the opportunity to perform because he can't.
Laurie

Tom, in other words, Carlos Pavon: Chapter 2
Tom

Every report I've seen from Polish and Celtic fans suggests this guy is done. Good luck though...
Melissa

Did he just refer to himself in the third person in that quote above? Sign him!!!