"I want to be ready"

The 27-year-old goalkeeper suffered a muscle injury in September during the home match against Wisła Cracow. Van der Hart had to leave the pitch after 20 minutes and the initial diagnosis predicted a two-week break. However, in the end, the recovery lasted nearly a month. For the following four weeks, the Dutch player practiced with his teammates and last weekend he was finally able to travel with the squad to a league game. Still, the joy of returning to the match squad was dimmed by the loss against Radomiak.

“It’s great to rejoin the guys, especially after everything that has happened these past two months. Of course, the result wasn’t what we wanted, and I didn’t get to play, however, personally, I was very happy to be back in the match squad,” explained van der Hart.

Lech’s team has just one more match to play this year. On Sunday, Skorża’s squad will face Górnik Zabrze at home and the game will decide which of the team is going to wrap up 2021 as the leader of PKO BP Ekstraklasa. If the squad from Poznań beats their opponent, they will secure the top position in the table. The Dutch keeper doesn’t hide his eagerness to reappear on the pitch on Sunday. “The recovery time has extended significantly which means that I only get one chance to play again in the nearest future [because of the winter break]. As a result, the rivalry on my position is a bit different than normally throughout the season. I want to be fully ready for Sunday and then time will tell what the coach decides,” added van der Hart.

If the Dutchman doesn’t get minutes against Górnik Zabrze, he will have to wait until the spring round to make his return. However, before the league kicks off again, the players will get a ‘winter pre-season’ during which the goalkeeper will have an opportunity to prove himself and regain his position in the starting line-up. “I can’t wait for the heavy workload, especially since this injury is different from those that I have suffered previous – previously, I knew how long I would be out whereas this time I had to recover for longer than expected which was frustrating and only made things feel worse than last year. Sometimes, recovery doesn’t go according to plan and that’s something you ought to deal with,” emphasised the goalkeeper.