Exclusive: He grabbed the national team, anabasis on the stopper and the lure of Slavia. The attacker hinted at how close he is to Eden
Six goals in the league, three in the cup and that famous hat-trick in the national team. Was this the best six months of your career?
I would definitely say yes. The matches in the club were successful for me, the national team was more like a cherry on the cake, autumn would have been great even without it. In addition, we finished fourth in the league, and from a personal point of view, I was also successful.
What is the reason for such a performance increase? Did you change the preparation somehow?
Since hosting in Pardubice, I have been constantly doing the same things that worked for me there. The most important thing is to set yourself up correctly in your head and put in 100 percent effort during training, to add to yourself. I took everything I learned in Pardubice back to Olomouc and it helps me a lot.
How do you feel about that making you a really hot commodity on the transfer market?
Although it sounds nice, I try not to deal too much with newspapers and similar media. It’s nice if you’re written about positively, but otherwise you’ll put yourself under unnecessary pressure by reading critical articles. Of course, it cannot be completely avoided, my friends keep sending me all sorts of speculations that appear on the Internet.
Slavia are very interested in you and your agent has said it’s time to move on. How do you feel about a possible transfer?
Of course, I want to move as high as possible in my career, just like everyone else, but this is not entirely my concern, it depends more on the agreement of the clubs. If it works out now, I will be happy, but if not, we have a lot of work to do here in Olomouc, which we would like to complete. A fourth place finish would be great.
Would cooperation with Jindřich Trpišovský, for example, attract you in Eden, or rather the overall ambition of the club?
However, we also have excellent coaches at Sigma, which, in my opinion, is also reflected in our game performance. Slavia can be considered, like other teams from the Czech TOP 3, a European club, so a job in one of them is every player’s dream. However, as I mentioned, at the moment a possible transfer depends only on Olomouc’s agreement with interested parties.
If you were to move elsewhere, how would you view the increase in competition in the battle for the lineup?
I see competition as a good thing, it improves every player’s performance. But it would not be anything new for me, several footballers in my position also work in Olomouc, which in my opinion is positive.
You spiced up your debut in the national team with a hat trick, did you even imagine that it could turn out like this?
No way. For example, I was hoping to come on and score a goal, that would be great. Hat-trick? I didn’t even dream of him.
Was the experience enhanced by the fact that the match with the Faroe Islands was played in Olomouc, so family and friends could watch you live?
That was the best thing about it. Almost all the people we meet could be right at the stadium, they didn’t have to commute anywhere. As far as I know, everyone enjoyed the match, but I probably enjoyed it a little more. (laughter)
Did you expect an invitation to the national team at all, or was it more of a surprise?
The surprise was that the other clubs did not release the players who should have been in the nomination originally. After that, everything went really fast, the manager called me that I could appear in the national team. But I don’t want to say that I expected the invitation, I’m still really grateful for it.
You even wore the number ten on your back at your premiere, was that your intention?
Not at all, in what would I not take ten in the national life of the team, that number is the most in football. I had it more or less by accident, without even knowing it. There is such an interesting story about it, about two and a half hours before kick-off, one of the members of the implementation team came to me and asked if I knew what my number was. To that I told him no, he started laughing and replied that just ten. I replied that I didn’t know if I could do it, but in the end everything turned out great.
Do you think that after such a successful premiere, coach Šilhavý will also count on you for the upcoming qualifying match for the European Championship?
I don’t take it completely as saying that I wanted a place in the national team. It mainly depends on how I will perform at the club level, they must be above average in the long term, only then can another nomination come. It would be nice to play at the Euros, but I don’t look that far, I prefer to set short-term goals.
You had two knee surgeries as a teenager, did you think at that time that you would ever make it to the national team?
I didn’t have it in my head at all, I thought it couldn’t happen anymore. After those injuries, I was mainly happy that I could still play football, at one time even that was not certain. I also had to focus on school, that’s what my dad instilled in me the most.
How hard is it to recover from serious injuries at such a young age?
I came back pretty quickly after the first surgery, maybe I rushed it a little and tore the ligaments in my knee again. After the second one, it was a lot more complicated mentally, but we still played and I just watched. As a teenager, it was even more difficult in that others were constantly developing and I practically did not play football for a year and a half. It was not at all easy to get back to their level.
After your recovery you even played stopper for a while, how did you end up in that position in the first place?
After moving to the junior team, it was difficult to get a place in the team, the coach put me in defense for several matches, saying that I have the height for it. Those I played very solidly, a little while later I started training with the A-team as an offensive midfielder, which is a position I started in before. So you could say that the short stay on the tracker actually helped me.
So how did you become a striker?
Most of my career I played in the midfield, at the time when I trained with the A-team and went to play for the junior team, but coach Chromý tried me on the point. I scored a few goals and somehow stayed in the attack.
Did it bother you when in the future you would move a little lower again and play just under the tip?
I certainly wouldn’t complain, for example in Pardubice I also played on the wing for a while. But I think that the classic “nine” suits me best.
How do you rate hosting in Pardubice in autumn 2021? Do you see this as an ideal path for a young player?
At first I was sorry that I wouldn’t even fit on the bench at Sigma and had to gather experience elsewhere, but in the end it turned out to be the best solution for both parties. For players who have been at one club for a long time, as I was in Olomouc, it pays to break the stereotype and change the environment. This changed me tremendously from a human point of view, so I can definitely recommend guest houses.
They still remember you in Pardubice, when you only worked there for half a season, you were their best scorer in the last league year. What impression did this engagement leave on you?
The whole city and the club grew close to my heart, even though I was only there for four months and not even half a year, it was hard for me to leave. They finally have a nice new stadium, I will always support them and hope they save the league this year.
Several players from your class of 1999 are active in the Olomouc A-team. Is this more a matter of luck or does it show great youth work?
I’d say both. I have experienced this myself, I have passed several categories in Sigměnické, and I have known some other young people for over a year. Of course, chance also plays a role in this, because several really talented footballers have become in one team. I also had fun with the former chcei, and they said it was really tasty to play against us.
Which of your long-term finalists who are now joining the A-Team are you closest to now?
Definitely to Jirk Slám, I talk with him practically on a daily basis, we go out for lunch or coffee together after training. Moreover, he was also with me in Pardubice, where he helped me tremendously. When I got there, I had practically only football boots and underwear packed with me. (laughs) He showed me absolutely everything, I didn’t even know where the training ground was or where to stay.
If you were to start a brilliant career and leave Olomouc in the near future, do you plan to ever return to it?
I have Sigma in my heart, I am incredibly grateful to everyone in the club for standing by me even after the mentioned knee operations. They could have written me off because of that, instead they kept me and if I left, I would definitely like to play here again. I really like Olomouc as a club and a city, although I currently live in Prostějov, but I can easily imagine living here in the future.