Where did it go wrong for Golden Boy Kozlowski at Brighton?
Next time Brighton fans get giddy over a new teenage signing based on YouTube and the Golden Boy list, we have a new reference point to remind everyone not to get carried away before actually seeing said player in the flesh – Kacper Kozlowski.
The Polish midfielder was meant to be the next big thing when he joined the Albion in January 2022 for a significant outlay of £9 million from Pogon Szczecin.
Six months earlier and Kozlowski made history as the youngest ever player to play in a European Championship aged 17 years and 246 days.
He came off the bench as Poland drew 1-1 with Spain at Euro 2020 (in 2021). That record was eclipsed this summer by a certain 16-year-old from Spain called Lamine Yamal. You may have heard of him.
Kozlowski had made his Pogon debut aged only 15 years and 215 days on the final day of the 2018-19 campaign. He was a mainstay of their midfield in 2020-21, helping his boyhood club to third place in the Polish top flight – their highest finish for 20 years.
Goal ranked Kozlowski as one of the 20 most promising young players in Europe. He appeared in the top 100 for the Golden Boy list in both 2022 and 2023.
And now Kozlowski departs Brighton having failed to play a single minute of Premier League football. He still had two seasons to run on his Albion contract.
The Seagulls though have obviously seen enough, deciding to take a significant financial hit on that £9 million outlay by allowing Kozlowski to join Turkish side Gaziantep FK.
Perhaps telling was the short, sharp social media message which announced Kozlowski leaving: “Kacper Kozlowski has joined Turkish Super Lig side Gaziantep FK in a permanent move.”
No good luck. No thanks for your service. Just that Kozlowski was off. Ouch. Almost like the Albion are pretty pissed off at Kozlowski proving to be such a colossal waste of money and a black mark against the recruitment strategy and reputation which the club so cherish.
But that is the risk you take when you buy young players with potential. Some will develop to reach or exceed expectations, such as Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo. One a World Cup winner. The other the most expensive player in British football history.
Others will falter and fail to kick on. Kozlowski fits that bill and in a big way because of the relatively large fee Brighton paid for his services. So too his compatriot Michal Karbownik.
The left back was also a Polish international who was on the wanted list of some of Europe’s biggest clubs when the Albion brought him to England for £4.5 million from Legia Warsaw.
One FA Cup and one League Cup appearance were the sum of Karbownik’s Seagulls career. Maybe Brighton should stop looking to Poland for signings?
Where did it all go wrong for Kozlowski? Two of his three loan moves have not helped advance his career. He spent six months with Union Saint-Gilloise immediately after signing for Brighton, playing just nine times.
Next came a season long loan with Vitesse Arnhem in 2022-23. This was easily the most successful of his temporary switches.
Kozlowski scored three times and recorded five assists in 30 matches. His form was good enough to push him back into the Poland international squad.
2023-24, however, was a disaster. Kozlowski returned for a second season with Vitesse. He played another 30 matches but Vitesse won only six games all year.
Even without an 18 point deduction for breaches of their licensing conditions and providing incorrect information to authorities, they would have been relegated from the Eredivisie.
To make matters worse, Brighton did not want Kozlowski to return to Vitesse for 2023-24. The feeling was he had ‘completed’ the Dutch league. A loan move to the Championship was mooted as a means of toughening the teenager up.
Kozlowski though wanted to be master of his destiny. In an interview last summer with Dutch newspaper De Gelderlander, Kozlowski said: “Brighton sets the course. But I am absolutely open to a second year of Vitesse.”
“There are talks between Brighton and Vitesse. I don’t like the Championship. That’s so physical. So much brute force. No way. The Premier League suits me. Vitesse too. That has become clear to me.”
Such comments hint at a player unwilling to step out of his comfort zone. Something which will not have impressed the Albion, whose player pathways are carefully designed to push each young talent to their limits in order to extract the maximum from them.
For all the talent that Kozlowski showed on YouTube reels and the column inches dedicated to him aged 17, it would appear to be his mentality which has let him down at Brighton.
The Albion subsequently find themselves out of pocket. Kozlowski meanwhile heads to Turkey, hoping to rebuild his career. Aged only 20, he has plenty of time to do that.
Brighton would still appear to harbour hopes that Kozlowski can fulfil his potential. The deal taking him to Gaziantep FK is said to include a 50 percent sell on clause. The Albion could yet claw back some of the £9 million spent on Kozlowski.
At the same time, his story highlights the risks that come with Brighton buying players based on potential. Thankfully, there have been more Mac Allisters, Caicedos, Encisos and Mitomas than Kozlowskis.
But it only takes a few bad transfer windows to tip the balance the other way. A reminder that the Albion’s status as a Premier League club is perhaps not as secure as many of us would like to think.
