Krystian Bielik joined Derby County from Arsenal ahead of last season and after a contested first year, is he ready to pull Wayne Rooney’s side out of the relegation zone?
The Pole had featured 20 times in the Championship for Derby County last season.
He joined for an undisclosed fee from Arsenal and would pick up a ‘significant’ knee injury midway through the last campaign, which would keep him sidelined until this season.
Becoming available for selection in October, Bielik has had a stop-start return to the side.
READ: Arsenal ‘leave door open’ for Leeds United to sign £25m Championship ace
Derby remain managerless after their dismissal of Phillip Cocu last month and amid their ongoing takeover talks, Rooney and co have been placed in interim charge.
The managerial rumour mill continues to turn though – John Terry is becoming a leading candidate to take the job.
Last night saw Bielik make his second appearance of the season.
He started in midfield with Rooney still omitting himself from the side, and despite the late equaliser for Coventry City last night the fans seem excited by the return of Bielik.
Rooney’s position on the pitch had become contested. He’d put in some tiring performances and fans were growing likewise of him.
READ: Steve Bruce deals ‘bitter’ transfer blow to former club Sheffield Wednesday
But with Bielik in the middle instead of Rooney, Derby look a much stronger team.
They’ve halted a run of four straight defeats since Rooney has taken himself away from playing matters and could’ve – or better yet, should’ve – won both games.
The pieces are slowly coming together but there remains a lot of work, a lot of matters to sort out before Derby can realistically start their survival bid.
A trip to Millwall faces them this weekend, and fans will be hopeful that Bielik can keep his place in the side and put in a strong away performance at The Den.
See what Derby County fans think of Bielik’s impact of late:
Tell you what though, we've looked a damn sight better going forwards with Bielik in midfield rather than Rooney.
Genuinely concerned that when the new manager comes in we'll fall back into the slow metronome of the first 10 games #dcfc #dcfcfans
— Jake Barker (@JakeBarker1212) December 1, 2020
Can we all finally agree Bielik is fit to play 90 minutes? #DCFC
— 🇺🇦David🇺🇦’Rutger’🇺🇦Walton🇺🇦 (@ramsfan0285) December 1, 2020
If theres any positives tonight CKR was excellent deserved his goal and did his job well. Thought Bielik had a solid game too, kept it simple calm and composed #dcfc
— Vikramjit Singh Khalsa (@viksinghdosanjh) December 1, 2020
Bielik and Kazim-Richards make #dcfc a much better team, so there's two big positives. If Stretton can become a bench option, that's another big plus.
I'm not criticising them tonight. They just have to keep going, put in that effort every single match and force fortune to turn.
— Derby County Blog (@derbycountyblog) December 1, 2020
One plus from tonight is Bielik… man of the match for me looks a really good footballer actually looks too good for us currently #dcfc #dcfcfans
— Gav (@Gav1981) December 1, 2020
Super impressed with Bielik- Buchanan and CKR also positives. Inexcusable that we didn’t win. How Stretton and Bird missed their respective chances is beyond me 🐏 #dcfc #dcfcfans
— Arttire (@arttireoriginal) December 1, 2020
https://twitter.com/_BrettJames/status/1333888021133996038?s=20
