WARSAW, May 23 - The most gifted Polish player of his generation, Maciej Zurawski has come of age this season as a driving force behind Celtic's runaway victory in Scotland's premier league.

Zurawski, 29, moved to Glasgow from Wisla Krakow last year in a reported three-million-euro deal and after a slow start, which had many fans questioning new coach Gordon Strachan's first major purchase, he began to score regularly.

"I told you so," a grinning Strachan told reporters after "Magic" opened his account against Dunfermline, 11 games into this season. "He's not going to be a good player -- he is going to be a great player."

The draw of Champions League football may keep him at Parkhead next season but Polish media speculate that a strong performance at the World Cup could be the springboard Zurawski needs to break into Europe's bigger leagues.

Born in the western Polish city of Poznan, Zurawski first drew offers from foreign clubs after driving a Wisla Krakow run in the UEFA Cup which included victories over Germany's Schalke 04, and Italy's Parma.

Zurawski stayed on to win the Polish League four times in five years with Krakow but the club lost out in qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League each time and eventually allowed him to leave to pay off their mounting debts.

Technically excellent and with a sharp turn of pace, he is more comfortable playing deep behind a second striker and has formed a potent duet with Tomasz Frankowski both for Krakow and now the national side.

Zurawski took eight games to open his account for Poland, but now has 15 goals in 48 games, including seven in qualifying where he was the team's joint top scorer.