When William Wilberforce led the movement to abolish the slave trade in the 19th century, it is fair to say that he probably didn’t envisage all his hard work being undone as la bête noire attempts a one-man comeback in 21st century Manchester.
But, on Tuesday morning, that is exactly what Manchester United’s fourth-choice goalkeeper, Tomasz Kuszczak, likened his current status to: a slave. Disillusioned with life at Old Trafford, the Polish stopper felt “compelled” to make his feelings known and thus compare himself to some form of modern-day drudge, held against his will. The fact of the matter is, he’s not far wrong.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen Manchester United goalkeepers set themselves apart in the “bizarre” stakes: firstly there was the big Danish shot-stopper Anders Lindegaard, signed in January, state that he was not at Old Trafford to “pick his nose”, and then Spanishwunderkind David de Gea found himself in a sticky situation when he inadvertently appeared to shoplift a donut from Tesco. So we shouldn’t really be surprised when Kuszczak came out with this latest tirade.
Whilst “slave” might have too many connotations of severity, the man from western Poland is certainly down on his luck at the moment, rounded off by, allegedly, being refused a loan move to Leeds United. But, truth be told, his playing career has never really deluged or blessed with a huge amount of luck.
To get a genuine idea of how much his career has never really taken off, it’s crucial to rewind eleven years, all the way back to 2000 when Kuszczak, a fresh-faced product of the Polish outfit ?l?sk Wroc?aw, signed a contract with Bundesliga big boys, Hertha Berlin. He would go on to spend four years making a grand total of zero appearances for their first team. Playing third fiddle to two other more senior goalkeepers – one of whom being Gabor Kiraly, he famed for wearing tracksuit bottoms of the pyjama nature and also for being helpless when Paul Scholes struck the 2006-07 ‘Goal of the Season’ – Hertha let his contract run down, opening the door to a move to newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion.
It was at The Hawthorns where Kuszczak’s fortunes began to change, even if it did take a full season before his potential was glimpsed. With the relegation dogfight going down to the final day of the season, an injury to number one stopper Russel Hoult enabled Kuszczak to make only his third top-flight league appearance…ever. And he seized it, and every shot at his goal, with both hands, helping the Baggies beat Portsmouth 2-0, thus keeping them in the league.
The following campaign saw his star take flight, as he made 28 league appearances for the Midlands side, one of which produced the ‘Save of the Season’, a startling, point-blank save against Wigan’s Jason Roberts. Still relatively young, at 24, Kuszczak could be forgiven for thinking that he had “arrived”; his potential was beginning to emerge.