Patrik Schick was already making waves in Serie A with Sampdoria when he produced a moment that would catapult his name to a much wider audience. “Dennis Bergkamp who? Meet Patrik Schick,” Sampdoria’s club account tweeted after his goal against Crotone in April 2017, which was preceded by a flick not dissimilar to the one the Dutchman produced at St James’ Park 15 years earlier.
On Friday the 23-year-old will line up for the Czech Republic against England in the knowledge that even a point would put his country in a good position to qualify for Euro 2020. Schick’s 13 goals in 35 games for Sampdoria marked him out as one of Serie A’s best strikers and although a move to Roma to 2017 has not been a success and he is on loan at RB Leipzig this season, he is likely to pose the biggest threat to Gareth Southgate’s side in Prague.
Schick has four goals in five Euro 2020 qualifiers and has been likened to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. A more appropriate comparison at the moment, given the country’s reliance on his goals, might be Robert Lewandowski, according to Schick’s youth coach at Sparta Prague, David Holoubek.
“That is a good comparison,” Holoubek says. “In the attack, Patrik is [the coach Jaroslav] Silhavy’s most important player. It will take a long time before somebody else reaches that level. We have a great young player in Adam Hlozek [a 17-year-old at Sparta] but he needs time.”
Holoubek believes Schick is set apart by mental toughness: “He is a very confident player and does not get nervous easily. He might not convert two or three chances but then he scores from the fourth. That is how his character has always been, and why he was able to go abroad.”
It was not always so straightforward. As a child Schick would start crying if he did not make the most of scoring chances and the coaches had to substitute him. In an interview with Reporter magazine Schick recalled how he did not enjoy being watched by his parents.
“Particularly my father,” he said. “He was so involved in the game, and when I messed something up, he would put his face into his palms and shook his head. I would get nervous because of that. When I was 12 we played a hall tournament at Sparta. My dad again shook his head and shouted something. I turned to him and showed him a middle finger. That moment changed something in my mind. I realised: who really plays football here. Him, or I? Me, certainly.”
Schick’s playing opportunities have been more limited than he would have liked over the past couple of years. He made his first Bundesliga appearance only last weekend, coming on for 27 minutes at Bayer Leverkusen but Leipzig appears to be a perfect place for him to restart his career after Roma.
A reported €40m fee made Schick Roma’s record signing, surpassing the amount paid for Gabriel Batistuta, and the Czech Republic’s most expensive player ever, eclipsing Pavel Nedved. A return of eight goals in 58 games followed, with Schick struggling to start ahead of Edin Dzeko and often deployed as a winger, an unnatural position to him.
“He has not had enough personality to fight for a place with Dzeko,” Gaetano Mocciaro, a journalist from Tuttomercatoweb.com, said. “However, I think that Roma’s board were planning to sell the Bosnian. In fact, they agreed with Chelsea to sell him in January 2018 but he refused to leave Italy. Because of that, Schick had to stay in his shadow … Schick was great at Sampdoria but with much less pressure. When he made a step up to Roma with different pressure and teammates, he was not strong enough.”
Schick’s transfer to Roma came weeks after a planned move to Juventus collapsed because of a failed medical, the club finding an inflammation on Schick’s heart after a previous illness. He underwent the tests at Roma successfully but Mocciaro goes as far as to say: “Considering his price and stats, I could say he was one of the greatest flops of all time for Roma.”
The time and ability are there for Schick to reestablish his reputation. From a young age he showed why he was destined for the top, says Holoubek, who noted the player’s “great individual technique with the ball”, “finishing with his left foot from inside or outside the box”, and speed.
Even amid the club struggles Schick has shone for his country and he will relish this chance to face England. When asked as a boy by his parents what he wanted for his birthday, he would answer: “David Beckham’s shirt.”
Wayne Rooney also made an impression. “Since I was a child, I have supported Sparta and we would go to Letna Stadium,” he said. “I watched a game against Manchester United and there was 17-year-old Wayne Rooney running on the pitch in front of me. I was eight and I thought that I want to do this – never go to a normal work, and to earn a living like him.”
