Hamalainen joins Lech

"I am very glad that I became a Lech Pozna player. The team from Poznan showed a real interest in my person and for the last month I haven't thought of anything  else but the transfer. I was here in Poznań, for the first time, during the match against Legia and the atmosphere of the event made a really huge impression on me. I also saw a bit of the city and all that made me come to the club from Poznań"-said Kasper Hamalainen.

The Finn was born on 8 August 1986 in Turku. He began his football career in a local club called TPS. He played on the pitches of Finland till the end of 2009. Hamalainen played for his mother team a total of 102 matches and scored 9 goals. In early 2010, he moved to Swedish Djurgardens IF, where he remained for 3 years. In the team from the capital of Sweden he  noted  94 appearances  and scored 10 goals. During those three seasons he had never missed a single league match for  Djurgardens. He has also played for the national team of Finland for 30 times scoring 6 goals.  

"We are happy with obtaining  another valuable player who was at the top of our scouting list. We were watching Kasper for over a year and we had been trying to win him over earlier. It didn't happen then, but we did it now, a year before his contract with Djurgardens finishes. Hamalainen is a very experienced player on an international arena and we count on his experience a lot"-said a member of Lech board of sport Piotr Rutkowski.

Kebba Ceesay had his big share in Hamalainen's  transfer. Kolejorz left defender have know the Finn as they played together for Djurgardens. The Gambian talked with Piotr Rutkowski about Kasper, especially about his mental strengths and characteristics. Hamalainen himself admitted that he had talked to Ceesay. "I called him several times to ask about his opinion about the club. We were talking about its structure and training conditions. Kebba was really delighted with playing for Lech, which was another argument for my decision"-revealed the new player.

Hamalainen is a very versatile player. In  the Swedish team he recently played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but he'd also played as a central midfielder with more defensive duties before, or even on the wing or in the  attack.  "I talked with the coach-Mariusz Rumak -and I know that he sees me on the position of a typical playmaker. I have the same task in my national team and I hope to live up to the expectations" - Hamalainen said.

30-times representative of Finland national football team  is the first new player for Lech Poznań during the transfer window, who  is going to play for  Kolejorz instantly. In Poland  the window closes on February 28th and maybe by this time someone else will join the team of Mariusz Rumak. - We even have a few conversations with the players and clubs. For now, however, it is difficult to predict how they will end. We haven't completed any negotiations yet. This is not a declaration, but certainly we'd want to have someone else join us - admitted Piotr Rutkowski.