The Polish Ekstraklasa has been, over the last five years, one of the most interesting championships in European football. The quality of the league, in general, is actually very high, with some impressive technical players on the top sides. Still, the most interesting aspect in recent seasons is that no dominant team exists. Legia Warsaw are traditionally the giant of Polish football, but Lech Poznan and Rakow Czestochowa have been impressive lately. The fact that the league has been more competitive than we may otherwise have seen means that player development has also been more interesting, and as a result, it has emerged as a more interesting market from a recruitment perspective.

Polish players have a reputation for being physically capable and having a strong technical base. Indeed, the Estraklasa is typically one of the most physically demanding leagues in Europe, and as such, players from Polish clubs are seen as capable of playing at a high level and in leagues that are more intense in terms of the pace of play and the speed required.

The purpose of this article is to shine a spotlight on some interesting players who are currently playing in the Polish top flight. In order to do so, we will perform a data analysis using data and statistics as the initial tool to cut through the noise and identify the players for this article. We will then drill down into those players’ specific performances this season using performance data and visualisations showing their quality and tendencies. However, we will not focus only on young players in this article as there is a tendency when writing player recruitment articles to concentrate on young players. Instead, we will provide an analysis of four players who are all around their prime and that we believe will be interesting clubs from outside Poland.

To balance our article, we have identified one striker, one central defender, one central midfielder, and one winger.

  1. Erik Exposito, 27 years old, Striker, Slask Wroclaw and Spain

Let’s start with the striker position. The above scattergraph is designed to showcase interesting players who are performing well in terms of non-penalty goals per 90 but also who have stronger outputs in terms of xG per shot. In other words, we want to identify players who are scoring goals at a decent rate but who are also taking their shots from positions that yield a relatively high xG.

Erik Exposito is a 27-year-old Spanish striker who is currently playing for one of the less high profile teams in the Ekstraklasa in Slask Wroclaw. The Spanish striker is a product of the youth academy in Malaga, Spain, although he moved on a free transfer in 2016 to Las Palmas. He played for second teams in the Spanish lower leagues and had a loan spell at Cordoba before leaving Spain on a free transfer in 2019 to join Slask Wroclaw. So far this season, the Spaniard has had 14 goals and three assists in 24 league games.

The Spanish striker is an interesting case study because when you compare his data via a pizza chart, you will see that he has interesting spikes across the attacking, possession, and defending sections. Indeed, in the attacking section, Exposito is in the 70th percentile for goal contributions and the 69th percentile for expected goal contributions. He is also in the 71st percentile for shots per 90, but more interestingly, he is in the 89th percentile for dribbles per 90. In the possession phase of the game, his outputs are most impressive in terms of dangerous passes per 90 (passes to the final third and penalty area), where he is in the 89th percentile, and progressive passes, where he is in the 77th percentile. In the defensive phase, he completes his defensive duels and aerial duels effectively, and he is in the 61st percentile for defensive duels won and the 85th percentile for the % of aerial duels won.

From a data perspective, his profile shows a striker who is effective in front of goal and against the ball but also comfortable when asked to drop deeper to get on the ball and create a threat for his team.

We can drill down further into his event data by looking specifically at his shot data, something that is incredibly important when scouting forward players. It is easy to see why his xG per shot data is so good, as the majority of his strikes come from within the width of the opposition goal, and his better opportunities and goals tend to come from high-percentage chances in front of goal and in the opposition penalty area.

We would not be surprised to see the Spaniard leave Poland this coming Sunday with a move back to Spain or out to Portugal making sense.

2. Luis Silva, 25 year old, Central Defender, Widzew Lodz and Portugal

Next, we will look at central defenders, and in keeping with the general tendency within football at the moment to want defenders who are comfortable in possession, we will specifically look for ball-playing defenders. In this instance, the scattergraph is designed to surface central defenders who are comfortable in possession and who produce a lot of volume on the ball. The x-axis along the bottom shows passes per 90, while the y-axis on the side shows progressive passes per 90.  As you can see, Luis Silva is firmly embedded in the top-right quadrant.

In terms of his profile, Luis Silva actually brings more value because he is naturally left-footed. This is because left-footed central defenders carry an inherent value of their own as naturally left-footed players provide balance to the back line in the build-up phase of the game. The Portuguese central defender developed in the academy of Primeira Liga giants Benfica before making a slightly unusual move to England to join Stoke City before he had made the breakthrough at first-team level. His career has also taken him through the Portuguese lower leagues and to Cyprus before he moved to Poland in 2023 to join Widzew Lodz.

As a left-sided central defender, he is very active in his team’s possession phase. He is in the 87th percentile for passes per 90 and the 87th percentile for received passes per 90, which shows that he has a high volume. He is also very aggressive and vertical in his approach in possession, though, and he is in the 91st percentile for dangerous passes and the 68th percentile for progressive passes.

Once again, we can drill further into the players’ event data to get a more full picture of their play. As a left-sided central defender, he breaks lines with his passing and adds threat with his ability to play the final pass into the final third and into the penalty area.

At 25-years-old Luis Silva is well and truly in his prime now, and the level of his performance in his first season in Poland suggests that he can play at a higher level. A move back to Portugal to a bigger club would make sense, but for the moment, we believe that he will stay in Poland and build on his performances.

3. Fran Alvarez, 26 years old, Midfielder, Widzew Lodz and Spain

Next up, we will turn our attention towards midfielders, although once again, the player that we have chosen to highlight is from the Iberian Peninsula. Fran Alvarez is a 26-year-old Spanish midfielder currently in the Ekstraklasa with Widzew Lodz. The scattergraph above is designed to show players who penetrate into the final third and who create opportunties for teammates. Along the x-axis, we have passes to the final third per 90, and up the y-axis, we have xA per 90. In this regard, Fran Alvarez is the standout performer for LCMs or left-sided 8s in the Polish top flight this season.

He started his career at LaLiga‘s Villarreal before moving to Valladolid, where he played for their second team in the Spanish lower leagues before joining Albacete. This past summer, he moved to Poland on a free transfer to sign for Widzew Lodz.

Looking at his pizza chart, we can see that Alvarez is a midfielder who is extremely involved in his team and has good levels of volume. He is in the 93rd percentile for passes per 90 and the 94th percentile for received passes per 90. He is less aggressive in possession, as he is in the 52nd percentile for dangerous passes and the 53rd percentile for progressive passes. What stands out, however, is that he is in the 84th percentile for expected goal contributions and the 91st percentile for shots per 90, which shows that he is effective in the attacking phase.

Looking at the shot assists so far for Alvarez in the Ekstraklasa. However, we can see that his teammates are not matching his creative ability in the final third at this point.

Fran Alvarez is an excellent technical footballer with the ability to play at a high level, but once again, he might have another season in Poland first to cement his position as a first-team regular before then moving back to Spain or Portugal.

4. John Yeboah, 23 years old, Winger, Rakow and Ecuador

Finally, we will examine wingers in the Ekstraklasa. For the initial data check, we decided to keep things as simple as possible to identify a more traditional type of winger. Along the x-axis of the scattergraph, we have dribbles per 90, and up the y-axis, we have the percentage of successful dribbles—the 23-year-old Ecuadorian averages over seven dribbles per 90 with a relatively high success rate.

He started his career in Germany and represented Germany through the youth levels. He played initially for Bundesliga‘s Wolfsburg before moving across the Dutch/German border to sign on a free transfer for Willem II. He had several loan spells before moving to Poland in 2022 to join Slask Wroclaw on a free transfer. After just one year, though, Rakow paid £1.5M to secure his services. At that point, Yeboah chose to declare his intention to represent Ecuador at full international level.

As you can see from his pizza chart above, Yeboah is a standout performer in the attacking phase of the game. He is in the 86th percentile for goal contributions and the 81st percentile for expected goal contributions. He is also in the 85th percentile for shots per 90 and the 87th percentile for dribbles per 90. Interestingly, as a wide-attacking player, he is also in the 96th percentile for touches in the opposition area. His passing profile is relatively consistent with that of a predominantly attacking wide player, but he is in the 78th percentile for dangerous passes per 90, which shows some aggression in possession.

The visualisation above shows Yeboah’s penetrating carries so far this season in the Ekstraklasa for Rakow. As you can see, he is at his most dangerous in the final third, and he can take possession of the ball in the half-spaces. He can also drive into the opposition area, creating threat and finding angles to play low crosses across the face of the goal.

Yeboah has the kind of profile and 1v1 ability that clubs are keen to add at the moment. We would not be surprised to see clubs in Belgium, France and Germany looking at his performances closely as he impresses in possession for Rakow.

Conclusion

The Polish Ekstraklasa remains one of Europe’s most interesting and competitive leagues. From a recruitment perspective, many players brought in by Polish clubs seem to be on low fees or even on free transfers. That does not, however, mean that the top players in the league are cheap to get out. There are still bargains to be had around the Polish top-flight for clubs that can leverage data insights effectively in their recruitment processes.