Klich: Mateusz Andrzej (Mateusz)

2017-Current (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Midfielder

Born: Tarnow, Poland: 13-06-1990

Debut: v Port Vale (h): 09-08-2017

6’ 12st 13lb (2017)

Mateusz Klich was born into football. His father was also a professional footballer. Wojciech Klich, who was born in 1965 and played for several teams including, two years at Wisloka Debica then later at Bochenski KS, before playing in the Polish top Leagues and scoring once in sixty-six games for Stal Mielec from 1989-1991 and once at Siarka Tarnobrzeg in twelve starts in 1992. He played a total of eighty-four matches in the Polish first division, before coaching at various levels and currently works as a youth coach at Cracovia. Mateusz started his football career in 1999 with Tarnovia Tarnow before joining Cracovia Krakow four years later and finished his junior career there in 2008, signing professional in July 2008 and playing at Under-Nineteen level. He had already made his Under-Eighteen International debut for Poland on 7th January 2008 and went on to gain five caps at that level. His Polish Under-Nineteen debut came on 25th October 2008 in a 0-2 home defeat by Greece in which he replaced Mateusz Rajfur after eighty-one minutes. He went on to score once in four games at that level. He had two starts and six games from the bench in the 2008-09 season without scoring in the Lotto Ekstraklasa. In both starts he went on to play a full game, the first being his debut in a 0-3 defeat at GKS Belchatow on 7th November 2008. In the following season of 2009-10, he opened his goal account on 28th November 2009 in a 3-2 home win over Piast Gliwice when he made the score 3-1 in the seventy-second minute and started eighteen games and came off the bench in another three in the Lotto Ekstraklasa. He made his Under-Twenty debut on 6th September 2010 in a 1-0 home win over Italy at Stadion Glowny in Wronki when he replaced Marcin Budzinski after sixty-four minutes. He went on to gain a further cap at that level when he started on 24th March 2011 in a 1-1 draw with Germany at the Stadion der Freundschaft in Cottbus and was replaced at half-time by Mateusz Mozdzen. In the third season of 2010-11 at Cracovia Krakow, he started twenty-four and came off the bench three times and once was unused on the bench in the Lotto Ekstraklasa and added four goals to his tally. He scored the only goal in the twenty-eighth minute on 13th March 2011 in the game with Lech Poznan at home and the other three were also at home by a 3-0 margin, on 19th March 2011 with the opener in the fiftieth minute in a win over Korona Kielce, then the second three minutes after half-time on 9th April 2011 in another win over Lechia Gdansk home and finally on 25th May 2011 with the opener after twenty-five minutes against Jagiellonia Bialystok. He also started once and came off the bench once in the Polish Cup. He moved from Cracovia Krakow to VfL Wolfsburg in Germany on 1st July 2011 for £1.5 million. While at Cracovia Krakow, he had scored five times in forty-four League starts and twelve more from the bench and none in two Polish Cup games. His first season at VfL Wolfsburg of 2011-12 saw little progress and he was restricted to eight starts and one game from the bench as well as being unused on the bench on eight further occasions. He made his debut in the Regionalliga Nord on 10th September 2011 in a 1-3 defeat at SV Mappen in which he played a full game. He scored his first goal for his new club on 21st March 2012 in a 1-1 draw at home to Germania Halberstadt with the opening goal in the first minute before being replaced by Nico Granatowski in the fifty-sixth. He scored twice in eight starts and one game from the bench at Under-Twenty-One for Poland. He made his debut in a friendly on 26th May 2010 when he played a full game in Central Midfield in a 2-2 draw away at Albania. This was followed by four starts and one game from the bench in the UEFA European Under-Twenty-One Championship Qualifiers in Group 6. On 2nd September he played fifty-eight minutes before being replaced by Lukasz Tyminski in a 3-0 away win over Albania at the Skenderbeu Stadium in Korca, Albania. Four days later he played a full game in a 0-2 home defeat by Russia at the Kielce Stadium and one day later he was replaced by Kamil Drygas after seventy-one minutes at the Municipal Stadium, Rio Maior in a 1-1 draw with Portugal. On 11th October he again started and played eighty-four minutes before being replaced by Pawel Wszolek at the GKS Olimpia Stadium at Grudziadz and he gave Poland a 2-0 lead in the fifty-fourth minute in a game that Poland went on to win 4-3. He also scored, this time in the sixty-eighth minute at the Stadionul Sheriff Stadium in Tiraspol to give Poland a 4-2 lead, in a game that they won 4-3 over Moldova, after he had replaced Lukasz Jamroz at half-time on 1st June 2012. His seventh cap came on 15th August 2012 when he played a full game in a 0-2 defeat by Greece in a Friendly at Dimotiko Stadio, Kozanis, before another UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification Group 6 match on 6th September 2012 at the Centralni Stadium in Yekaterinburg when he played a full game in a 1-4 defeat by Russia. In his final game with the Under-Twenty-Ones, he took on the captaincy on 14th November 2012 in a 0-0 draw in a Friendly with Bosnia and Herzegovina at Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica and played a full game in Central Midfield. The 2012-13 season with VfL Wolfsburg saw only two starts and one game from the bench in the Regionalliga Nord until on 31st January 2013 he was loaned by VfL Wolfsburg to PEC Zwolle of the Netherlands for the rest of the season. He made his debut for PEC Zwolle in the Eredivisie on 10th February 2013 in a 1-1 draw at home to FC Twente Enschede in which he was a half-time replacement for Jesper Drost. He then became a regular and started the remaining twelve fixtures, playing a full game in most of them. He scored twice in that time, the first with the second goal in the sixtieth minute in a 2-0 home win over Willem II Tilburg on 2nd March 2013 and the second on 21st April 2013 in a 3-1 away win at NEC Nijmegen when he scored the third goal in the eighty-fifth minute. He also started once in the KNVB Beker. He was then loaned to PEC Zwolle in the Eredivisie for the 2013-14 season and started twenty-eight, came on as a substitute twice, was an unused substitute once and missed two games due to a fractured toe and one with a back injury. He found the net four times. He also started four games in the KNVB Beker which was won by defeating Ajax Amsterdam 5-1 on 20th April 2014. He had made his debut for the Polish National team on 5th June 2011 when he came on as a substitute for Robert Lewandowski, in the final minute of a 2-1 home win over Argentina in a Friendly International at the Stadion Miejski in Marszalka. Four days later he had sat unused on the bench as Poland was defeated 0-1 by France at the same venue. It was not until two years later that he was called up again, and on 14th August 2013 he started in a 3-2 win over Denmark at the Stadion Energa, Gdansk and opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the Friendly. This preceded four caps in Group H of the European World Cup Qualifiers. They were on 6th September 2013 in a 1-1 draw at PGE Narodowy in which he played a full game in central midfield, then four days later another full game as San Marino were beaten 5-1 at the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle and then on 11th October 2013 he started and played sixty-five minutes before being replaced by Adrian Mierzejewski in a 0-1 defeat by Ukraine at OSK Metalist. Then four days later at Wembley he came on as a half-time replacement for Mariusz Lewandowski in a 0-2 defeat by England. He then missed two games due to a fractured toe, before adding three more caps from Friendlies as he played eighty two minutes in a 0-1 defeat by Scotland at PGE Narodowy on 5th March 2014 as he was replaced by Lukasz Teodorczyk. On 13th May 2014 there was another eighty-one minutes at the Volksparkstadion in a 0-0 draw with Germany as he was replaced by Pawel Wszolek and then a further seventy-one minutes on 6th June 2014 in a 2-1 win over Lithuania at the Stadion Energa, Gdansk, as Karol Linetty was his replacement. His tenth cap came in the European Qualifiers Group D on 7th September 2014 in a 7-0 away win over Gibraltar as he was again replaced after seventy-one minutes by Krzysztof Maczynski. The 2014-15 season saw him back in Germany, after scoring six goals in starting forty-one games in the Eredivisie and coming on as a substitute in three and five starts in the KNVB Beker. While he still failed to make the Bundesliga team, he did twice sit as an unused substitute on 13th September at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and eight days later at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen, but that was as close as he got the the VfL Wolfsburg first team other than two other games as an unused substitute in the Europa League at Everton and FK Krasnodar. He did, however, score three goals in six full games for the VfL Wolfsburg II in the Regionalliga Nord. So on 6th January 2015 he joined 1.FC Kaiserslautern for thrre and a half years at an undisclosed fee, thought to be in excess of £ 200,000. He made his Bundesliga 2 debut on 14th February 2015 in a 1-0 win over VfR Aalen at the Fritz Walter Stadion when he replaced Simon Zoller after seventy-six minutes. He went on to start two, come on as a substitute in three and remained unused on the bench in four, and scored once in the only full game he played which was on 4th April 2015 when he scored his side's third goal in the seventy-eighth minute in a 4-0 home win over 1.FC Heidenheim 1846. He also played two full games for the 1.FC Kaiserslautern II in the Regionalliga Südwest League. He scored three goals in starting thirteen and coming on as a substitute in three but remaining unused on the bench eleven times in the 2015-16 season in the Bundesliga 2 for 1.FC Kaiserslautern. He also started one and came on as a substitute once in the DFB-Pokal and started twice for 1.FC Kaiserslautern II in the Regionalliga Südwest League. On 26th August 2016 he moved to FC Twente on a three year contract for an undisclosed fee, thought to be £50,000. He had started fifteen and come on as a substitute six times for 1.FC Kaiserslautern in Bundesliga 2 and netted four goals.he had also started one and been a substitute once in the DFB-Pokal. In the 2016-17 season he made his debut on 10th September 2016 in a 3-1 home win over SC Heerenveen in which he played a full game. He started twenty-nine Eredivisie games appearing for full games on almost each occasion. He scored six goals and was captain on five occasions. His first goal was in the fortieth minute as he opened the scoring in the 1-1 draw at Heracles Almedo on 2nd October 2016. His second came in his next game a fortnight later in a 2-2 draw at home to PEC Zwolle when he opened the scoring after ten minutes from the spot. His third was the only goal of the game at home to Ajax 11th December 2016 when he again scored from the spot two minutes into injury time.His fourth was a consolation goal in the seventy-eighth minute again from the spot in a 1-3 away defeat at Vitesse Arnhem on 15th January 2017. His fifth was once more the only goal of the game from the penalty spot on 18th February 2017 and came in the fifty-fourth minute. Once more the sixth goal was from the spot to make the score 2-4, in the sixty-fourth minute of a 3-5 home defeat to FC Groningen on 14th May 2017. He also played a full game in the TOTO KNVB beker. Klich joined Leeds United on 23rd June 2017 on a three-year contract at a fee of £1.5million. He suffered minor muscle injuries initially and after he had featured, for forty-five minutes, in a behind-closed-doors win over Harrogate Town, Thomas Christiansen would not risk him in the first pre-season friendly at Guiseley. He was also missing from the two European tour games against Borussia Monchengladbach and SD Eibar, but was given twelve minutes at the end of the Elland Road Friendly with Oxford United. He was on the bench but not used on 6th August 2017 at Bolton Wanderers and nine days later for the home game with Fulham. However, in themeantime, he had made his Leeds debut in the League Cup on 9th August 2017 at home to Port Vale in the meantime but had been replaced by Liam Bridcutt after fifty-eight minutes. His first League game was as an eighty-first minute replacement for Samu Saiz at Sunderland on 19th August 2017. His first League start was at Cardiff City on 26th September 2017, but he was replaced after sixty-seven minutes by Ronaldo Vieira. He did play full games but only in the F.A. Cup and League Cup games against Newport County and in the Extra-time and penalties against Burnley at Turf Moor, in which he gave United a 5-4 lead in the penalty shoot -out, and also in the 1-3 loss to Leicester City in the fourth round. He had only managed one start and three games from the bench in the League and one start in the F.A. Cup and four in the League Cup and so to gain first team experience he was loaned to FC Utrecht on 22nd January 2018 for the rest of the season. He made his debut on 4th February 2018 in a 2-2 home draw with Excelsior Rotterdam. He started in fourteen Eredivisie and made on start and had one game as a substitute in the Play-Offs for the Europa League. He scored one goal, that won his final game for the club on 6th May 2018 at home to VVV-Venlo in the seventy-first minute. He returned to Leeds for the start of the 2018-19 season and was immediately brought into the first team squad by new coach Marcelo Bielsa.He started with the second squad on 19th July 2018 in a 1-1 draw at YorkCity and then had another full game at the Kassam Stadium on 24th July in a 3-4 defeat by Oxford United.and two days later he scored the first Leeds goal in the fifty-ninth minute in a 4-3 win at Guiseley. He then made the first team as a half-time replacement for Samu Saqizin a1-0 win over UD Las Palmas at Elland Road on 29th July 2018 and he then cemented his first team spot with excellent displays in the first dozen League and two substitute appearances in the League Cup. He was also the leading goalscorer with four. The goals coming in the first game on 5th August 2018 in a 3-1 home win over Stoke City when he opened the scoring after fifteen minutes, then six days later in a 4-1 win at Derby County as he again opened the scoring in the fifth minute. Then in the fifth game on 25th August 2018 in a 3-0 win at Carrow Road over Norwich City he again got the opener after twenty-one minutes and finally in a 1-1 draw in his tenth League game he levelled the scores in the fifty-fourth minute as that was the final score at Hillsborough on 28th September 2018. His form was such that it earned him a recall to the Polish team after an absence of four years. He brought his caps to thirteen with three in quick succession starting on 7th September 2018 in a UEFA Nations League A, Group 3 game as a fifty-sixth minute replacement for Damian Szymanski at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in a 1-1 draw with Italy and four days later in a Friendly with the Republic of Ireland in a 1-1 draw at the Stadion Miejski, when he replaced Krzysztof Piatek after sixty-one minutes, he got the equaliser in the eighty-seventh minute, and then in another UEFA Nations League A Group 3 game on 11th October 2018 in a 2-3 defeat by Portugal at the PGE Narodowy, he gave way to Jakub Blaszczykowski in the sixty-third minute.

(To 2017-18)