Europe’s hidden gems – Ekstraklasa edition: Michał Karbownik

Early Career:

Michał Karbownik is a native the Polish city of Radom, a city situated just south of the capital of Warsaw. The player started his career with GKS Zorza Kowala in 2011, which is a team located not far from Radom itself.

He started his playing career in his natural position at central midfield. It only took him a year to prove himself at youth level for Zorza and earn his first move to  UKS Młodzik 18 Radom.

He played for the Radom based club from 2012 to 2015, when scouts from Legia Warszawa quickly picked up on his talent and snapped him up into their own youth system. While with Legia’s youth setup, the player made appearances in the Centralna Liga Juniorow, the 3 Liga and the UEFA Youth league.

Between 2017 and 2019, Karbownik made 65 appearances at youth level, assisting 3 times in the process. Karbownik made his senior debut in 2019 and never looked back, putting up 6 assists from his defensive position on the field.

The question is, how does a central midfielder end up playing on the left side of the defense? It was strange twist of fate that brought Karbownik to the fore of Legia’s back line.

The club were well and truly out of option in the position when starting left back Ivan Obradović picked up an injury that allowed Karbownik to be tested in the new role by manager Aleksandar Vuković.  Vuković has applauded Karbownik’s transition, even going as far as to say that in time, “half of Europe will be fighting for his signature.”