Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at 13:09• Chris Meijer

Brighton & Hove Albion has secured Kacper Kozlowski. The eighteen-year-old midfielder is taken over by the English club for eleven million euros from Pogon Szczecin and has signed a contract that runs until mid-2026. Kozlowski has been leased directly to Union Sint-Gillis, the frontrunner of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League, which has the same owner as Brighton & Hove Albion with Tony Bloom.

Kozlowski’s name has been around in Europe for years. At fifteen years, seven months and three days, he became the youngest player ever in the Ekstraklasa on 19 May 2019 in the game against Cracovia, although that record has now been broken by Kacper Urbanski who made his debut at fifteen years, three months and fourteen days. made for Lechia Gdansk. In March of this year, at the age of 17, he made his debut for the Poland national team and the midfielder was also included in the European Championship squad.

During the game against Spain (1-1), he became the youngest player ever to play at a European Championship at 17 years and 246 days. Kozlowski’s name has been associated with Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen, Red Bull Salzburg, Torino and Saint-Etienne in recent years, but there was still no transfer last summer. In the past six months, he made nineteen appearances on behalf of Pogon Szczecin – the club where he went through the youth academy – in which he was good for three goals and four assists.

Brighton & Hove Albion have now handed the six-time Polish international his long-awaited transfer, although he will have to be patient for a while before he can play in the Premier League. Kozlowski finishes the season at Union Sint-Gillis, the surprising leader in Belgium. “His playing style suits us,” said manager Graham Potter on behalf of Brighton & Hove Albion. “He will be loaned out because it is important for his development to keep playing regularly. We will follow that with interest.”