Grzegorz Krychowiak

Grzegorz Krychowiak ([ˈɡʐɛɡɔʐ krɨˈxɔvjak] (); born 29 January 1990) is a Polish professional footballer who plays for Lokomotiv Moscow and the Poland national team as a defensive midfielder. Krychowiak can also be deployed as a centre-back.

Beginning his senior career in France with Bordeaux, he later played for Reims, before joining Sevilla for €3.5 million in 2014, winning the UEFA Europa League in both of his two seasons at the club.

Krychowiak has earned over 60 caps for the Poland national football team since his international debut in 2008, and represented the nation at UEFA Euro 2016 and at FIFA World Cup 2018.

Club career

Early career

Although initially not a big fan of football, Krychowiak became involved in the sport at his brother's insistence and left home at the age of 12 to join a sports academy.

France

On 26 November 2009, Krychowiak joined Championnat National side Stade de Reims on loan until the end of the season. He quickly became a regular in the starting eleven and scored two goals to help the club win promotion to Ligue 2. Reims and Bordeaux agreed to extend the loan for another season. Krychowiak was a regular starter as the club finished 10th in its return to Ligue 2 and was voted by fans as the team's player of the season. Although Krychowiak usually plays as a defensive midfielder, on rare occasions he has also appeared in central defense. On 17 November 2011 he joined Nantes on loan until the end of the season.

In June 2012, Krychowiak signed a three-year contract with Stade de Reims, which was newly promoted to Ligue 1.

Sevilla

In July 2014, Krychowiak joined La Liga side Sevilla for €4.5 million to play as a defensive midfielder. He made his competitive debut on 12 August in the 2014 UEFA Super Cup at the Cardiff City Stadium, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–0 defeat to Real Madrid.

On 27 May 2015, Krychowiak started for Sevilla in the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final in Poland's National Stadium in Warsaw. He scored the team's equalising goal in the 28th minute of an eventual 3–2 win over Dnipro, becoming the fifth Polish player to win the competition. He was the only Sevilla player named in the La Liga Team of the Season.

On 11 August 2015, Krychowiak started the season for Sevilla in the 2015 UEFA Super Cup 5–4 loss against Barcelona, and suffered a broken rib but still played the full 120 minutes.

Paris Saint–Germain

On 3 July 2016, Krychowiak returned to France, signing a five-year deal with champions Paris Saint-Germain for an undisclosed fee.

West Bromwich Albion (loan)

On 30 August 2017, it was announced that Krychowiak had joined Premier League club West Bromwich Albion on a season-long loan. On 14 October while on loan at West Bromwich Albion, Krychowiak said to the media that he felt deceived by Paris Saint-Germain manager Unai Emery saying "I spoke with the coach but every time when I spoke with him I felt deception". He went on to say "Yes, exactly. So for me I didn’t understand why. The coach knows me very well. We spent two years together and before I signed the contract he told me to come to PSG, and I didn’t play." This was in response as to his frustration of being left out of the team and not getting game time.

Lokomotiv Moscow (loan)

On 24 July 2018, Russian Premier League club Lokomotiv Moscow announced the signing of Krychowiak on a season-long loan deal with an obligation to buy for 10 million euros.

Lokomotiv Moscow

On 3 July 2019, Lokomotiv announced that Krychowiak signed a contract with the club on a permanent basis.

International career

Krychowiak represented Poland under-20s at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup and scored a free kick against Brazil, the only goal of the match. He was the youngest outfield player named to the Polish U20 squad. He made his first appearance for the senior Polish national team in a friendly against Serbia on 14 December 2008. Since the game was not on an official FIFA date, the teams were mostly composed of players from the domestic leagues, as well as a few reserve players, however, it was counted as an official match.

On 14 November 2014, Krychowiak scored his first international goal, Poland's second in a 4–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying win in Georgia. His second goal came in Poland's final qualifying match against Ireland, where he opened the scoring in a 2–1 victory which made Poland qualify for Euro 2016. In Poland's opening game against Northern Ireland, he was voted man of the match. This was Poland's first ever win at a European Championship. He scored the final spot kick in a 5–4 penalty shootout win over Switzerland in the round of 16. He played every minute of Poland's historic Euro 2016 campaign, which ended in the quarter-finals losing to Portugal 3–5 in a penalty shootout.

Career statistics

Club

As of 11 December 2019

International

As of 19 November 2019

International goals

Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	14 November 2014	Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia	Georgia	2–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
2	11 October 2015	Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland	Republic of Ireland	1–0	2–1
3	19 June 2018	Otkritie Arena, Moscow, Russia	Senegal	1–2	1–2	2018 FIFA World Cup
4	16 November 2019	Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem, Israel	Israel	1–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 2020 qualification

Honours

Sevilla

• UEFA Europa League: 2014–15, 2015–16

Lokomotiv Moscow

• Russian Cup: 2018–19
• Russian Super Cup: 2019

Individual

• La Liga Team of the Season: 2014–15
• UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2014–15, 2015–16