The New England Revolution added a No. 9 when they signed Adam Buksa as a Designated Player on Aug. 20. We spoke to Daniel Trzepacz of Pogon SportNet to gain some insight about the striker.

The Bent Musket (TBM): Can you start by giving us a quick summary of Buksa’s career?

Daniel Trzepacz (DT): The first Buksa clubs are youth teams from Krakow. From there he went to Italy. He played in the youth teams of Novara. After two years he returned to Poland and at the age of 20 he came to Lechia Gdańsk. He played 16 matches there in which he scored 1 goal. Then he went to the Zagłębie Lubin. This is a club in Poland, which first had a great academy and wanted to bet on young players. He didn’t play much there, however. In two years he played 30 matches, but usually for only a few minutes. At the beginning of 2018, he came to Pogoń on a loan. The club was at the bottom. Buksa was one of the first transfers of the current coach. After six months at the club, a decision was made to buy it out, and unofficially there is talk of EUR 300,000. He immediately became a key player, and only in Pogoń he got the chance to play regularly. He was close to leaving Pogoń six months ago. He had offers from Italy and the English championship. He decided to stay because he didn’t feel it was the right place for him. So it seems that going to the New England Revolution is his very well thought-out decision.

TBM: What are Buksa’s strengths?

DT: Buksa can shoot his right and left foot, and his height helps him fight for the upper balls. During two years he developed very much. He was once called to the national team, but he did not make his debut. Currently, there are a lot of talented Polish attackers. Buksa scored seven goals this season. Maybe this is not a very impressive result, but Buksa had a lot of defensive tasks. He often went inside, helping to win duels in the air.

TBM: What are Buksa’s weaknesses?

DT: Buksa had health problems a year ago. These were not serious injuries but several times he was out in several matches. There were no such situations this season. You can see that he has gained a lot of physical strength. When he got to Pogoń, his advantage was his height, but he was not physically impressive. Now his physique is quite impressive. He is very strong. He must work all the time to finish goal situations. But he is a young player and he will continue to develop.

TBM: Can you tell us a bit more about last year’s health problems?

DT: He had some back problems, but after he got physically stronger it passed. He was unlucky because after one of the matches he was diagnosed with a broken rib. But that was over a year ago. This year was very good in this respect.

TBM: How excited should Revs fans be about Buksa coming to MLS?

DT: Revs fans can be sure that the club is getting a professional with a strong psyche, who is focused on development and achieving individual and team success. He is very intelligent. He will do well as a sniper in the penalty area, but will also help in the worse moments in the midfield. He can have a series of matches in which he can not score, but it does not affect him. In the next match he comes out with a clean head ready to shoot.

We want to thank Daniel for taking time to answer our questions. He can be found on Twitter (@d_trzepacz) and his website is Pogon SportNet.