Images via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
Brighton start their Premier League campaign today away at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
Brighton have three Polish players under contract at the Amex, Jakub Moder, Kacper Kozłowski and Michał Karbownik. Of these three, the only one available to Graham Potter today is Kozłowski. Moder, as has been widely reported, is out until 2023 and Karbownik has recently agreed to join 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Moder has been a regular starter at Brighton in his first 18 months at the club. Operating across the midfield, he has been a fantastic addition to a Brighton team that is consistently performing in the top flight. Moder would’ve been going to the World Cup as a starter for Poland, but unfortunately his recovery from the ACL injury he suffered in April has been complex, and recently required further surgery.
Karbownik has had a difficult time at Brighton, and a difficult period in his career generally. Moving to the Seagulls from Legia in 2020, he has been loaned back to Legia as well as a tough loan spell in Greece with Olympiakos, where he suffered injury problems and spells out of the team. Hopefully his move to Fortuna will signal a return to the kind of form that saw him named in the 40-man shortlist for the Golden Boy award.
Strangely, Karbownik’s main problem is that his versatility is costing him. He wants to play in his natural position as a central midfielder, but the issue he faces is that he is now seen more as a wing-back on either side of the defence. This insistence on his preferred position is only fair, and this is why he has joined Fortuna instead of some of the other options he was given. Andy Naylor, of The Athletic, has said that Karbownik will most likely be moved on at the end of his current loan spell, be that to Fortuna or to another club.
Kozłowski stands the best chance of minutes for Brighton in the first half of the 2022-23 season. After his move from Pogoń to Brighton in January, he was immediately loaned to affiliate club Royal Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, where he mostly came off the bench. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is used in a similar way this season at Brighton, although there is plenty of competition for places in the midfield.
It wouldn’t be a complete surprise to see Kozłowski loaned out again for the season, although there are no clubs being spoken about in concrete terms, although Eredivisie clubs were being rumoured at one stage this summer. That being said, it is up to Kozłowski to fight for a position in Brighton’s squad this season and imperative for his chances of going to the World Cup that he gets enough time on the pitch before November.
Kozłowski is undoubtedly one of the biggest young talents in Polish football, so it is of the utmost importance that he gets the chance to develop, whether that be playing for Brighton this season or being loaned elsewhere. In my opinion, he has the quality to fight for playing time at Brighton, but whether he will get enough to go to the World Cup is a different matter.
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