The 10 most interesting winter transfers in Ekstraklasa. “He played in the Champions League and the national team”

PKO BP Ekstraklasa returns today, and on this occasion we decided to take a look at the most interesting winter transfers of representatives of the Polish elite. Therefore, we have selected 10 transactions that seem to us the most interesting for various reasons.

We took into account the current value of the player, his club past, potential, but we also highlighted the transfers of several players already known to us, who experienced many good moments on Polish pitches, and now simply changed club colors.

10. Kevin Friesenbichler (RFS Riga -> Lechia Gdansk)

Perhaps getting a striker out of the Latvian league does not impress anyone, but it is still an interesting transfer, because Friesenbichler returns to Lechia after more than seven years. In 2014, the Austrian was loaned to the “White-Green” from the reserves of Benfica Lisbon and he was doing really well. He scored five goals and two assists in 16 games. Then he represented such clubs as Austria Wien, Sturm Graz, Wolfsberger AC, VfL Osnabruck and recently RFS Riga, with whom he played in the UEFA Conference League. Now the 28-year-old unexpectedly returns to Lechia. He signed a contract for two and a half years.

9. Adrian Gryszkiewicz (SC Paderborn -> Rakow Czestochowa)

The malicious will say that he returns to Poland with his tail between his legs. And maybe they’ll be right. Gryszkiewicz left Górnik Zabrze in the summer and moved to German Paderborn, playing at the back of the local Bundesliga. However, he did not make a fury in the West. He played only 27 minutes in the German Cup match. Then he had an allegedly serious knee injury, although it was not confirmed anywhere. Now the 23-year-old is to play in his home Ekstraklasa again. Considering the fact that Marek Papszun is a coach who can get the maximum out of almost every player, Gryszkiewicz should also get back on track. There’s definitely a lot of potential.

8. Kamil Drygas (Pogon Szczecin -> Copper Legnica)

An interesting transfer within Ekstraklasa. Drygas is already a recognized brand in Poland. It is safe to say that in recent years the midfielder has become a true legend of Pogoń Szczecin, for which he has played 193 matches since 2016. Earlier, we could watch him in Lech Poznań or Zawisza Bydgoszcz. As a “Port Man”, he rarely went below a solid level, although he had some problems with injuries (including torn cruciate ligaments in the knee). Due to the considerable competition in the current season, he was mainly a substitute and now he will look for new challenges in Legnica.

7. Stefanos Kapino (Arminia Bielefeld -> Copper Legnica)

The aforementioned Drygas, however, is not the only interesting strengthening of Miedź, which currently occupies the last place in the table and will have to fight for survival in the spring. The team was joined by also Stefanos Kapino, a 28-year-old goalkeeper from Greece, who has really strong clubs in his CV – Mainz, Werder Bremen, Olympiacos Piraeus, Panathinaikos and Nottingham Forest. Usually, though, he was just a substitute. He made the most appearances in Greek clubs (almost 100). He had the opportunity to play in the Champions League or Bundesliga. He is also a nine-time representative of his country. He signed a contract with Miedź until the end of the current season.

6. Jakub Bartkowski (Pogon Szczecin -> Lechia Gdansk)

Bartkowski continues his tour of Polish clubs. He started as a Widzew player, then played in Wigry Suwałki and Wisła Kraków, and spent the last four years in Pogoń Szczecin, with whom he played in the qualifying rounds of European cups. He’s a really experienced player. The 31-year-old will soon reach 200 matches in Ekstraklasa and it can be said that he is simply a very solid player who rarely goes below a certain level. Even this season, he regularly played in the first eleven of Pogoń, scoring two goals and providing four assists. He should be a significant reinforcement of Lechia.

5. Leonardo Rocha (Lierse -> Radomiak Radom)

Rocha is a true globetrotter. He has already been to Portugal, Italy, Brazil, France, Spain and Belgium. In the latter country, he spent the last three and a half years, doing really well. This season, he scored 12 goals and made four assists in 17 games in the Belgian top flight. It is also an environment where he feels like a fish in water, because as a player of Lommel SK and RWD Molenbeek scored a lot of goals there. He is 25 years old at the nape of his neck and, interestingly, he is 200 cm tall. Therefore, you can expect many top balls sent into the penalty area of ​​Radomiak’s rivals. The portal “Transfermarkt” values ​​him at 750 thousand euros.

4. Jani Atanasov (Hajduk Split -> Cracovia)

Atanasov’s first club was the Macedonian Akademija Pandew, but at the age of 18 he moved to the Turkish Bursaspor, where he played 15 matches for two years. In September 2020, Hajduk Split brought him. In the two and a half seasons he spent there, he had different periods. Once he was an absolute starting player, sometimes he played as a substitute. However, he made 69 appearances, not only in the Croatian league, but also in the Europa League and Conference League qualifiers. In the meantime, he made his debut for the North Macedonia national team. Even during the last training camp, the coach gave him a chance twice. An interesting transfer of Cracovia, which signed a contract with the player until 2026.

3. Dominik Holec (Sparta Prague -> Lech Poznan)

Will Lech finally hit the goalkeeper? It seems he should. Holec is a solid brand. On Polish fields, we could see him already in the colors of Raków Częstochowa, where he did very well. He also has, among others, 54 appearances in Slovakia’s Žilina and 24 matches played in one of the leading Czech clubs – Sparta Prague. In addition, less than a year ago he made his debut for the Slovakian national team. He is currently on loan to Kolejorz, but after the season the club from Poznań may decide on a permanent transfer.

2. Leonardo Koutris (Olympiacos -> Pogon Szczecin)

66 appearances for Olympiacos Piraeus, including several in the Champions League. In addition, he plays for Fortuna Duesseldorf or Mallorca. And seven matches played for the Greek national team. Koutris’ football history looks, at least by Ekstraklasa standards, really solid. The left-back, who also has Brazilian roots, was valued at €6 million in 2019. A year later, he tore the cruciate ligaments in his knee, which certainly did not affect his further fate. He has only played once for Olympiacos this season. So he decided to look for new challenges and will continue his career in Szczecin.

1. Linus Wahlqvist (Norrkoping -> Pogon Szczecin)

Football players from Sweden are doing exceptionally well in our Ekstraklasa. In the case of Wahlqvist, one can also be optimistic. This player, as a 19-year-old, made his debut for his country’s national team, for which he has played six matches so far (the last one, however, was in 2018). He mostly plays as a right-back, but has also played a number of games as a central defender. Today he is practically a legend of the club where he grew up. In the shirt Norrkoping reported on the pitch a total of 226 times. In the meantime, he spent two years in the German Dynamo Dresden, where he regularly played on the fields of the 2nd Bundesliga. No new acquisition of Ekstraklasa clubs is valued at a higher amount. In the case of the Swede, it is EUR 1.2 million. He signed a contract with “Portowce” until 2026.

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Other interesting transfers: