Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
Recently whilst reading up on the opinion of fellow Polish football watchers, a consensus seems to rightly have been struck that we are now at a place where the Ekstraklasa is no longer the laughing stock many both inside and outside of Poland perceived it to be at one point.
Domestically, the situation is pleasantly removed from the other periods we have been in the last decade, where it was either Legia or Lech winning the league (Piast Gliwice’s mild fairytale notwithstanding). We can now say with confidence that Raków, Legia, Lech and Pogoń Szczecin can all have a legitimate battle for the Ekstraklasa title this season. Attendances are consistently high, we now see players like Ivi Lopez and Mikael Ishak choosing to stay in Poland rather than lower leagues in bigger countries, and the Ekstraklasa has now risen to 21st place in the UEFA league coefficient.
This is largely thanks to the European adventure Lech went on last season in the Europa Conference League. After coming through the group more comfortably than expected, and beating two other strong teams in Bodo/Glimt and Djurgardens, came within 15 minutes of taking eventual runners-up Fiorentina to extra time in the quarter-finals. Though we are early in the 2023-24 season, all four Polish clubs are through to the third round of qualifying for their respective European competitions.
However, it has been interesting to see how many younger Polish talents have decided to move away from the Ekstraklasa this summer. We’ve seen something of a mini-exodus, with players like Michał Skóraś, Łukasz Łakomy, Szymon Włodarczyk, Maik Nawrocki and Karol Niemczycki all moving on to new clubs. In the case of Łakomy and Włodarczyk, it’s very understandable given they have a great chance of playing European football for their new clubs, an opportunity that would not have presented itself this season had they remained with Zagłębie Lubin and Górnik Zabrze respectively.
Also in regards to Włodarczyk, it’s clear that Sturm Graz are trying to replicate what they have done with Rasmus Højlund, netting themselves a sell-on fee and a reputation for scouting strikers with huge potential.
With Skóraś and Nawrocki, they would still have had a good chance of European football if they’d stayed with Lech and Legia, although I don’t think anyone begrudges them for moving on Club Brugge and Celtic. That being said, some parts of the transfers still slightly rankle.
For Skóraś to be sold for €6 million, when you have players of similar age, profile and European experience being sold for €10 million more, smacks of a bit of a raw deal for Lech. Celtic have a history of buying young Polish players, but for every one that works out decently there is another that doesn’t. Personally I don’t think Nawrocki’s development would’ve been harmed by staying another 6-12 months at Legia, but Celtic were willing to pay a more than agreeable fee for him.
Niemczycki’s transfer to Fortuna Düsseldorf is different to the rest of these, in that it’s arguably a very typical Ekstraklasa-of-years-past transfer. If there are two countries you can count on to try to buy young talent out of the Ekstraklasa, it’s Germany and Italy.
That sort of brings me to my point, which is thus: all these young players have moved to relatively minor European leagues, more of a sidewards than an onwards step. In years gone by players like Skóraś and Włodarczyk would’ve been destined for mid-table Bundesliga and Serie A clubs, but now they are essentially taking another year to develop at a slightly higher level before inevitably trying to move to a Top 5 league.
Whilst on paper these moves perhaps seem underwhelming, it might end up speaker to a greater maturity of these players. Taking more time to hone their craft before they are thrust straight from a league which is still a good 15 or more coefficient places below the one they are moving to strikes me as something very wise for the most part.
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