Lewandowski and Milik in the picture near Twente: ‘Scouting in Poland is good for each other’

Lewandowski was high on the list of Twente in the glory years of the club. “That was certainly on the radar”, Van Staa indicates at De Oosttribune van RTV East. “We had the scouting in Poland like Twente well organized and we followed all those players. And Bednarek … he just plays as a central defender for Poland.”

Why Twente did not switch to transfers, Van Staa leaves in the middle. Lewandowski, Milik and Bednarek were feasible for Twente, he says. “You were offered that kind of players, still relatively unknown and they are still affordable. We also had Milik, who later went to Ajax. I don’t know if he wanted to go to Twente, but he was also on the radar and was offered.”

The story of Bednarek is quite a special one, says Van Staa. “Bednarek always came to train with us, the boy was fourteen years old at the time. Later he made a big transfer to England via Lech Poznan. But we could have brought it in without any problems, because he was completely ‘Twente-crazy’ because his brother (Filip , ed.) was already a goalkeeper at Twente and his entire family was pro-Twente. “