Bialkowski: Poland Call-Up Would Mean Everything Tuesday, 20th Feb 2018 17:40 Bartosz Bialkowski believes playing in the Championship will not be a barrier to him gatecrashing the Polish squad in time for the forthcoming World Cup finals to be hosted by Russia. The as-yet-uncapped Bialkowski, who is hoping to claim the third goalkeeper place in the squad, has become a strong contender after national boss Adam Nawalka witnessed his man-of-the-match display in the otherwise disappointing goalless draw with struggling Burton at Portman Road 10 days ago. Bialkowski said: “Wojciech Szczesny of Juventus and Lukasz Fabianski of Swansea are the main two keepers and the competition to be third choice is quite open to be fair. “The other two [Lukasz Skorupski of Roma and Przemyslaw Tyton of Deportivo La Coruña] are in really good teams but they are not playing, which is obviously a good situation for me trying to get the call-up. “It would mean everything to me if I was to get it. Since I was a young boy it has been my dream to play for a big club and also for my country. “If I’m going to get that call-up I’m going to make sure I stay in the squad for a few years. I can’t book my summer holiday yet but it doesn’t matter because if I get a call-up I’m going to be over the moon. I’ve got my priorities and that will be the main thing for me.” Bialkowski added: “To get the call-up to the national team you have to be playing week in, week out. “At the time of Crystal Palace’s interest in me during the transfer window I had no contact from the national manager and I wasn’t thinking about going with the Polish squad. “It ended up as a good decision because I’m playing every week so the Polish national team manager can watch me when he wants. “Hopefully he will make his decision and call me with some good news. He must have heard I was doing well in the Championship or he would not have come to Ipswich to see me. “It’s amazing, really. I know I am competing to be the third-choice keeper and it is going to be hard for me to get ahead of the top two keepers. “But you need to set your standard very high and you need to aim very high. If I go there I’m not going to make up the numbers, I’m going to push them all the way for the number one spot.” Bialkowski revealed the background to his elevation as a strong contender for a place in the Polish squad. “I had a phone call from the manager about four days before the Burton game,” he said. “I was in shock really and at first I thought someone was winding me up. But I recognised his voice and after the game we had a chat. He was quite pleased and we are still in contact, so who knows? “It didn’t make me nervous that he was watching me. Obviously, I was thinking about it, but I think I am mentally strong and he said that to me after the game, that I showed him I was quite tough mentally. “I had an important save to make in the last minute so that proved him right. “I didn’t have much to do in the game, maybe just a couple of saves, but as a goalie if you don’t have much to do you have to stay focused because you never know when you are going to be called into action. “The manager has said he can’t promise me anything, of course, but he was quite pleased and the very fact that he came over from Poland to attend the game suggests I am in his plans. “We didn’t talk about the fact that I am playing in the Championship and not the Premier League, but it is obvious that if I was playing in the Premier League it would help me. “However, there are good Championship players who are regulars in the Polish squad, like Kamil Grosicki at Hull and Pawel Wszolek of QPR, so it is not a big issue. The Championship is still one of the best, if not the best, second tier divisions in Europe. Bialkowski was asked how long he would wait for a move to the Premier League, a speculated move to Crystal Palace in the transfer window failing to materialise and virtually guaranteeing there will be a question mark against his Town future again in the summer, regardless of the fact that he is poised to sign an already-agreed new contract in the very near future. He added: “I don’t want to think about it that way. I am just trying to concentrate every week on my job and you just never know what the future is going to bring. “I’m not looking too far ahead but as a footballer I want to play at the highest level possible and whatever the future brings, we’ll see. “I am quite relaxed about being lined again with a move in the summer. I have said it hundreds of times, that me and my family absolutely love this place, but then again if something happens I have to sit down with them and discuss everything, the positives and the negatives, and then everyone else will see.” Meanwhile, Bialkowski is looking to move on from the disappointment of conceding a last-gasp equaliser in Sunday’s East Anglian derby at Carrow Road. He added: “It was great for the Norwich fans to watch that late goal — they went absolutely crazy. That’s football and it’s why we love the game. You never know what is going to happen. “With 30 seconds to go we are thinking we’ve won that game but 30 seconds can be a long time in football and anything can happen. We just needed to see it out, keep concentrating and making it sure it didn’t happen. “The manager was absolutely gutted, as we all were, but he said we should be really pleased with our performance. “We played really well and in the first half we dominated them. They did absolutely nothing and I think I had one cross to catch — that was it. “Obviously, we knew they were going to come out for the second half looking to play better. They had a couple of chances from freekicks but not a lot else. That was it really but we couldn’t hold on for the win. “I had hundreds of messages from people who were all very disappointed. I was as well because I wanted to win that game, for the fans obviously, because since I’ve been at Ipswich we have been unable to beat Norwich. “I went absolutely crazy when we scored but it was a massive blow for everyone that we didn’t win. “But when you wake up the next morning you know you have a game in the next two days and you need to concentrate on that. “It’s a long season and we need to keep going. The fans have been brilliant with me since I came here and I have a good connection with them.”
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