Extra Class: Shopping in Poland

The Ekstraklasa is a third-tier league, there's no doubt about that. It's nowhere near the leagues it should be aspiring to compete with. For me, those should be the Belgian Pro League and the Dutch Eredivisie. If we go down a level, maybe the Swiss and Czech leagues.

But things are starting to move. As they should be. Even if it would mean nothing in terms of football, Poland is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and also football-obsessed.

In recent years the domestic competition, boosted by the creation of the Conference League, has finally grown considerably.

During the last decade, the Europa League and the Champions League have long remained out of reach for Polish clubs. However, since the inception of the UECL the country has regularly had all four of its teams into the same competition, Europe's third-tier competition. That's where the points in the UEFA coefficient come from, points that have pushed Poland up to 12th position in the UEFA Ranking.

Six seasons ago, the Ekstraklasa sat in 30th place in the continental rankings.

More clubs in Europe, more money in the domestic market, more competitiveness in the league. Poland is the most competitive league in Europe. And now it is spending more and becoming a hard-seller.

According to FIFA's annual report on the transfer market, Poland's percentage of sales involving a transfer fee (that is, in which the buying club paid an amount to the Polish selling club) has grown by almost 6 percentage points since 2021.

On the other hand, Polish clubs are willing to pay more to sign the players they're interested in. In 2025, Polish clubs spent $53.6 million. An unimaginable figure a few years ago.

All of this (the league's growth in Europe, its internal competitiveness, clubs being willing to pay more for players and making efforts to retain young talent...) has resulted in more and more outsiders keeping an eye on the rising level of Ekstraklasa players.

For this reason, today we're going to take an in-depth look at three young players with real upside who could bring in a lot of money for Ekstraklasa clubs, and who you shouldn't lose sight of.

All data is per 90 minutes, unless stated otherwise.

Wojciech Monka - Lech Poznan - 2007

Monka is a product of Lech Poznan's academy, for many the best in the country right now. A 2007-born, 1.90-meter-tall centre-back who is about to play his third season with the first team.

Barring a transfer or injury, Monka should play even more than the 2058 minutes of last season.

Passing is Monka's stand-out quality. He uses both feet skilfully to carry the ball and to pass it.

His two-footedness allows him to play indistinctly on the left or right side of the back line. Add to that the unexpected composure on the ball for a 19-year-old and we have one of the best prospects in the country.

80 centre-backs played over 450 in the Ekstraklasa last season, but only 13 of them attempted, on average per match, more passes under pressure. Of the 80 centre-backs, no one topped the Pole's 89.47% success rate on this type of pass.

Fortunately for him, he is at a club that suits him perfectly. Lech Poznan had possession 57.6% of the time, more than anyone else last season, and their short-and-controlled build-up phase featured the fewest long balls per sequence.

Playing on a side like that meant Monka averaged 53.2 passes per match, more than 69 of the 80 defenders in our sample.

The more passes, the greater the chances of being aggressive with your passing, that's true.

However, on top of having plenty of opportunities to pass the ball, Monka shows ability and willingness to thread dangerous passes into the feet of his teammates. Passes that he disguises genuinely well, making it hard for opponents to read his intentions.

The passing-and-progression numbers are outrageous. Only one centre-back was involved more xG per match, while Monka ranked sixth in progressive passes and third in progressive carries per game. He also took part in 4.65 shot-ending sequences per match, a figure only two defenders in the Polish league surpassed.

Ironically, I came across Wojciech Monka's profile while putting together a piece on possible replacements for John Stones at Manchester City. He would be a wild, niche option but the likeness between them is easy to see.

My doubts with Monka come from the limited amount of danger he has to deal with on a team that dominates possession to such an extent.

If I were to do a cat-or-dog categorization, I think he is a fairly passive defender. He's more about reading the game and intercepting with good timing than about being aggressive and stepping out of the defensive line to cover the wide channels.

He also wasn't involved in many aerial duels, and when he was, he didn't win more than he lost.

Personally, I see a centre-back who will very soon make the jump to one of Europe's eight top leagues. If he's to polish certain things, and I can get clarification on the type of defender he chooses to become for the future, then I'm sure that he could be the most expensive sale in Ekstraklasa history a year from now.

Especially if his club manages to reach the Champions League.

Wojciech Urbanski - Legia Warszawa - 2005

Legia's Urbanski found himself In the middle of the storm that has taken place, and is still taking place, at the capital's club. The Pole, a Poland U21 international, isn't coming off the best of seasons.

You could argue that for long stretches of the season the club's dynamics got the better of him.

Despite finishing in sixth place, the Wojskowi had four coaches during a 9-month-season and, in March, they were still in the middle of a relegation battle.

In that kind of climate it was always going to be harder to perform well. Much more so if, as happened to Urbanski, you keep getting shuffled from position to position. In his case, between the left flank and the middle of the pitch.

The problematic consequence of this is that he never gets to properly settle into one position. The good one is that, in theory, he has a set of tools to do well in several positions. In Urbanski we highlight his mobility and his defensive commitment, but also his boldness on the ball.

On the ball he's rarely involved but at the same time seems to be everywhere. That's his mainstay: his stamina, his ability to keep going, to be able to repeat those actions that don't get noticed as much but that are vital.

As you can see in the image, Urbanski gets an Endurance Score of 78.5, higher than 112 of the 117 central midfielders with more than 450 minutes in the Ekstraklasa.

Urbanski is a player with huge aerodynamic capacity, who spends the match travelling at a sustained speed and doesn't produce as many top-speed sprints as others. He's a player built for stamina, for endurance and for repeated medium-intensity efforts.

According to our Arrigo data, he's above 81% of central midfielders in off-the-ball movements, with most of these runs being ahead-of-the-ball ones, those forward runs that happen in front of the ball carrier without breaking the defensive line (8.75 per match).

He moves off the ball to help his team's circulation, and off the ball to bite at the opponent.

Only two players attempted more pressures. With more or less success, this tells us more about his willingness than about his ability, which in some cases is quite a bit more important.

It's also worth noting that 18.4% of Urbanski's recoveries are quick recoveries, meaning they happen within the 8 seconds after his team loses the ball.

I still have my doubts about his position. His top speed is around average, he's not a slow player, and he also makes high-intensity runs frequently — in fact, his figure of 49.9 High-Speed Runs (HSR) is only surpassed by 4 central midfielders. But he doesn't have the technical ability to get out of tight spaces or two-on-one situations with any regularity.

By carrying the ball with power through the middle he can do more damage. Moreover, with his excellent stamina-based physical profile, being more centrally positioned will help him get involved in a lot more actions.

Urbanski is a good player who I don't think is ready yet to make the jump to a starting role at a good top-eight club. If he's going to participate so little with the ball, he needs to maximise his interventions, and right now he isn't doing that. Off the ball and in the collective effort, he has shown potential.

The calmer the season Legia are able to have, the better version of Urbanski we are going to see. Based on what he's shown so far there are positive signs.

Maksym Khlan - Gornik Zabrze - 2003

I'm sure this will be Khlan full breakout year. His progression over the last three campaigns, since joining Lechia Gdansk from Ukraine's Zorya Lugansk, clearly points in that direction.

In 23/24, his first in Poland, he racked up 10 goals and 2 assists in 1. Liga, the country's second division, and earned promotion to the Ekstraklasa. After that, 4 goals and 3 assists to help confirm the club's survival from the coastal city earned him a transfer to Gornik Zabrze.

Last season was a resounding success for the Górnicy, who have the fourth-highest number of top-flight seasons in Poland. They achieved a commendable second-place finish that gave them access to the Champions League play-off round. The Zabrze side's strong performance provided an extra boost for Khlan, who registered 6 goals and 4 assists.

It's a very interesting development for a player with a rare profile in Poland: a right-footed dribbly winger who receives the ball just as comfortably out wide as he does coming inside.

He's a tiny (1.73m) but elastic Ukrainian player when it comes to turning and feinting. Let's say he doesn't turn in stages, his whole body moves at once. From there he changes direction with ease, feints one way and the other, lowers his centre of gravity, and can accelerate and decelerate frequently.

He's another player who, when taking on defenders or carrying the ball in tight spaces, makes effective use of both feet.

He's a give-me-the-ball type of player. Fearless, there's no doubt about that. His 6.9 attempted dribbles per match were the third-highest figure among the 43 wingers in the Ekstraklasa with more than 450 minutes last season.

Khlan's not afraid to ask for the ball in tight spaces and shows the personality to receive it and carry it into more dangerous situations. He recorded the most touches in the opposition box per match, with 6.03.

He can receive out wide and dribble to the byline or come inside, around the edge of the box, and always from the left, to drive on his preferred foot.

He's a volume player, not yet efficienct. He completed 73 of 160 dribbles last season: that's a lot of successful dribbles, but also a lot of unsuccesful ones. 45.6% success rate, a figure only six wingers in the Ekstraklasa 25/26 did worse than.

As a short-space dribbler, he doesn't particulary carries the ball well when travelling long distances. In fact, his carrying and chance-creation numbers are decent but not among the best in the Polish league.

On the other hand, he does use the dribble as a means to an end: shooting. Only Mariusz Fornalczyk (24) and Leonardo Sanca (36) had more total shots preceded by a dribble than his 23.

That's perhaps why how much he dribbles isn't as important as where he does it and what comes after the dribble. If he manages to beat his man, he'll probably find himself in a position to shoot, which is what everyone would like.

This combination of traits (coming-inside-dribbles, fewer long carries, and the purpose behind them dribbles) paints the picture of a player with, let's say, limited movement. For me, and this is something that can always be worked on, he is a player who, for now, focuses much more on receiving the ball at his feet than on making off-the-ball runs.

With our off-the-ball movement metrics we can confirm exactly this: while Khlan was the sixth winger with the most support runs per game, on all other types of runs he was below the 70th percentile among Ekstraklasa wingers. While this is more of an inherent trait and could create conflict on a team that demands more off-the-ball movement from him, it's not something that will stop him from jumping to a better league in the future.

What is genuinely a concern is his shot selection: last season he took 63 shots, scored 6 goals and generated 4.7 xG. In isolation, those figures don't look bad. However, the average xG of each of the Ukrainian's shots was very low. 72% of wingers in the Polish league averaged more xG per shot than he did.

There are reasons for optimism, or for doubt. Because while we can see that many of his shots come from outside the box (small dots meaning low probability of scoring), Khlan did increase the theoretical danger of his shots with his execution (from 4.7 xG to 5.1 xGOT, which tells us the danger of the shot once it leaves the boot, factoring in whether it's low or high, how close to the corner it is, the goalkeeper's positioning...).

In my opinion, Khlan is another player who wouldn't be harmed by one more year in the Ekstraklasa. To fully settle in, to become one of the team's leaders in a year in which, in all likelihood, they will be playing in European competition.

Right now he's a dribbler with a lot of volume but not much efficiency, who is bold enough to receive the ball at different heights but with inconsistent decision-making. Even so, he produces good numbers, tries to make things happen (something that should never be undervalued), and his finishing ability needs work but has potential.

However, with his contract finishing next summer, Gornik have to make a decision: tie him to a new contract or sell him now that they can get a fee.