Derby County defender Krystian Bielik has been told by his Poland international manager that he must leave the club if he has any hopes of playing for his country at the World Cup later this year.

The Lowdown: Bielik profiled

The 24-year-old first arrived at Pride Park for an undisclosed fee from Premier League side Arsenal three years ago, where he has since gone on to make 49 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring three goals during that time, as per Transfermarkt.

Despite the centre-back still having two years remaining on his current contract with the Rams, he’s been advised - one could even say warned - to think about departing the Midlands outfit in the coming months.

The Latest: Michniewicz sends clear transfer message

When speaking during an interview with Sport TVP (as quoted by DerbyshireLive), Poland coach Czeslaw Michniewicz revealed that he’s made Bielik aware that he won’t be boarding the plane to Qatar if he is still playing League One football next season. He said:

"I told Krystian that he would not go to the World Cup playing at League One level. I know he has a two-year contract, but he has to leave.

“Even if all the players stay there, including the coach.

“From third-tier level to the World Cup, it will be hard to go and compete with the best. We must have players playing in the best teams, because there will be very little time to prepare.”

The Verdict: Rooney disagrees

Despite being relegated from the Championship just weeks ago, Derby boss Wayne Rooney has claimed that he is ‘absolutely’ confident that Bielik will still be a Rams player at the start of the new campaign, and it’s no surprise to see why he’s such a big fan.

This season alone, the 6 foot 2 colossus has averaged 2.3 long balls, 1.1 tackles, and 1.1 clearances per league 90 minutes, alongside winning 1.9 of his aerial duels, via WhoScored, displaying his physical presence in that defensive backline.

With Chris Kirchner’s takeover of the club close to officially going through after announcing that he’s exchanged contracts for the sale, this now means that with funding about to restart, Rooney can begin planning his major summer rebuild in a bid to bounce back up to the second-tier at the first time of asking next year.

In other news… a journalist has delivered a huge update on the potential sale of Pride Park.