Krystian Bielik.

After a tough start, Bielik is beginning to live up to the £8m price tag Arsenal slammed onto him with consistently impressive performances that has been worth of a man of the match nomination for every game. A red card, an ACL injury and an arguably controversial interview in where he stated he would leave after two seasons if Derby doesn't get promoted - Bielik didn't set himself up to be one of those fan favourites who would be loved and endeared by the Derby faithful. He was here to be the best version of himself.

I liked that - it's not too often you come across someone so honest and blunt, especially in football. He knew what he wanted and he wouldn't stop at anything to get that. I admired that he was ruthless, it meant he would put 100% in everything he does at Derby, even if that was just for two seasons.

Bragging a total of 3 caps for his national team of Poland, Bielik has been widely regarded by football experts as an exciting talent, although he has flown under the radar during his time at Charlton Athletic in League 1 but Charlton is where he attracted the attention of football fans; he was previously on loan at Birmingham City (10 appearances) and Walsall (0 appearances). He joined Derby in August of 2019 on a five year contract,

In the nine appearances he has made this season, Bielik is like a completely new player compared to the 21 appearances he made in the 2018/19 season. He has completely reinvigorated himself as a footballer, and Rooney and McClaren clearly knows exactly how to get the best out of him. The 23 year old, it was his birthday today so happy birthday to the next Patrick Vieira, is at his strongest when he is less restricted; he is obviously a defensive midfielder but he can contribute hell of a lot more when he's allowed to go forwards too, it wreaks havoc with the opposition defences.

In this screenshot from the Birmingham game where we thrashed them 4-0, Bielik spots the opportunity to cover ground and to progress forwards. Although Birmingham should have had cover in this huge amount of space, Bielik lurches forwards to latch onto the ball and he proceeds to really push the play up the field.

This is how far Bielik gets, and a bit more because I got the screenshot a bit earlier to show you how much space he still has. Birmingham is playing with a quite deep defence, although a rigid line, it isn't enough to shut up Bielik early enough, and this opportunity allows him to slot the ball through to Sibley, who shoots it over the bar.

Ever since Bielik came back from the ACL injury, he has been taking a lot more risks which is not something you see often from players just returning from a lengthy lay off - it's often you see that players are more cautious of what they're doing, they're afraid of getting the same injury or having to go through a long recovery again.

Now this bit is a little lengthy but it's from our defeat against Sheffield Wednesday, our latest game. Barry Bannan is carrying the ball, and thanks to the exceptional work-rate of Kazim-Richards, Jozwiak and Knight, he is forced to pass. In this situation, Bielik positions himself in some space and is ready to launch an attack if Byrne intercepts the pass. The readiness to attack has been key in Rooney's interim reign so far.

Byrne does intercept the pass with ease as it was misplaced, and before Byrne even gets a touch of the ball, Bielik is already starting to run - he is ready. This understanding of good timing is something that we take for granted but it is critically useful to the way Rooney sets up the team.

Bielik receives the ball and handles the pressure well, he keeps his cool very well and after a twist once he gets the ball (it looks cooler in the highlights reel), he sets off on an attack but at the same time, he is aware of the potential pressure to come from the two ahead of him.

The reason I used the previous screenshot is because, along with this one, it shows you a better idea of how he held his nerve until he felt like he absolutely had no choice. By encouraging the two in front of him to apply pressure onto him, he is creating space for both Sibley to his left and Kazim-Richards just ahead of him. He is linking up play and creating opportunities for Derby to go forwards. This is what an excellent midfielder does and the fact that he is capable of holding his nerve this long at his tender age displays huge potential for him to build on in his future years.

Looking at him defensively, it's tough to put into words but his contribution is significantly important to how our defending is set up. Here, you can see Bielik is alone, he's not marking anybody and nobody's really close by. This is a bold move yet it gives him time to quickly analyse what's the threat and where he can deploy himself to be as effective as he can be in shutting down the Preston attack.

Bielik recognises the incoming threat from Tom Bayliss (number 7) and he immediately moves to mark him, rendering him useless to Daniel Johnson (11) and forcing Johnson to look elsewhere for his next move. Although Wisdom is there to block Bayliss in case he does get the ball, Bielik is better positioned to cut him out of the attack.

Now confident that Bayliss is cut out and covered by Wisdom, Bielik moves onto Jayden Stockley (20) and yet again, eliminates him from selection and forces Johnson to pass to Alan Browne (player with the ball) whom is probably not the best option. In doing this, Bielik has effectively defended and has done his job in cutting out options for the player in possession. Unfortunately though, Browne took a shot and we know how that ends.

What I like about Bielik is that he trusts his team mates and doesn't really undermine them. In a situation like this against Brentford, it's easy to let your instinct take over and you get sucked into the intensity of it, you lunge for the ball instead of leaving your team mate to have it covered. However, Bielik is also covering Davies as he is aware that Davies has got two players to mark, so by moving himself in front of the threat, he doesn't quite completely cut them out of potential target but it puts Derby in a better position to defend regardless.

Wisdom is taking a while to snatch the ball away, focusing on waiting for Dasilva (previously in possession) to pass or shoot so he can block it then, but Bielik feels that Dasilva is taking too much touches on the ball so he interferes once he spots Shinnie coming up to support, knowing his back would be covered if it turns out to be the wrong decision. This decision is proven to be a good one as he wins back possession for his side.

His passing range is impeccable and combined with his ball control and confidence of using technical skills to change direction or to throw off the opposition swiftly - it's not hard to see why many of us consider him Premier League quality.

All in all, this post is just a snippet of the talent he carries.

Onto statistics, since Bielik came into the fold, Derby has done considerably better. I'm going to compare 8 of Bielik's appearances as they were consecutive starts against the 8 before (minus the one game he played). Bielik has kept five clean sheets in his last 8 games, compared to Derby keeping zero clean sheets and conceding 10 goals whereas with Bielik in the team, Derby has conceded only three goals. As in for going forwards, with his link up play, Bielik has helped the team to three wins and three draws, picking up a total of 12 points and scoring seven goals yet without Bielik, Derby picked up four draws and no wins, meaning they picked up just four points out of a potential 24 and netting only four goals. It is evident that both statistically and just by watching games, Bielik is what this team has been missing for the entire calendar year of 2020, just that someone to pull together and link together the defence and attack. We haven't scored much goals this season, and that is another topic, there's only so much Bielik can do with his passing range and pushing the play upfield.

The confidence Bielik carries, some may call it arrogance, will be so critical of his future performances and career decisions. He recognises his own ability and limitations - rare for someone of his age - so he is pretty much fearless because he will strongly believe in what he wants to do now and he knows what he wants from his future. Statistically, he is also just continuously improving and is a vital cog to Derby County, even just a handful of games. He slots into teams seamlessly with his intelligence and composure, and thus, he would make a seamless transition to the Premier League - increasing his value.

The man has got a bright future, and if he stays injury free, he might just reach for the stars.

"I just want to help the team." - Krystian Bielik