Brighton sign Jakub Moder and Michał Karbownik for £14.5 million
Brighton & Hove Albion have completed a double swoop for Polish duo Jakub Moder and Michał Karbownik who arrive at the Amex for a combined £14.5 million.
21-year-old midfielder Moder signs a five-year deal with the Seagulls paying £9.5 million to Lech Poznan – a record amount for a player signed from the Ekstraklasa. 19-year-old full back Karbownik is a £5 million capture from Legia Warsaw on a four-year contract.
Those fees are the numbers being reported by Polish media. Brighton are parroting their usual line through Andy Naylor and The Argus of the players costing significantly less than is being quoted with Naylor reporting the total value of the deals as £9.5 million.
Both players will be loaned back to their Polish teams. Karbownik will stay with Legia until the end of the 2020-21 season whilst Moder returns to Lech “for the time being”, a pretty ambiguous timescale given by the Albion.
The suspicion is that Moder will remain in Poznan until their Europa League campaign is over. If Lech find themselves eliminated in the group stages then he could arrive in England in January; if they progress to the knockout rounds, then he won’t appear in an Albion shirt until 2021-22.
Moder and Karbownik are considered amongst the hottest properties in Polish football. Moder has played 41 times for Lech’s first team since breaking through in 2018, registering seven goals and seven assists.
He made his debut for the Polish national side against the Netherlands last month and will bring the sort of versatility that Graham Potter values in his players.
As well as being able to play as a box-to-box midfielder, a holding midfielder and a number 10, Moder has also been used on both flanks and as a centre forward.
At 6’3, his physique would bring a new dimension to an Albion midfield that is not exactly blessed with height – when he gets the chance to link up with the first team.
His highlight reel is a collection of blockbuster goals, outrageous skills and clever passes – although it is always best to take anything on YouTube with a pinch of salt. Even Jurgen Locadia can look good in a video.
Moder has previously been linked with moves to Red Bull Leipzig and Galatasaray. Six or seven Premier League clubs are reported to have sent scouts to watch him, a good job if you can get it as the dumplings and vodka in Poznan are among the best in Poland.
His return to Lech on loan will allow him to continue playing first team football, which will be important for his development and his international chances. A good 2020-21 season should see him go to Euro 2020 (in 2021) as part of the Polish squad.
Karbownik is a full back who can play on either the left or right flank and has also been deployed as a defensive midfielder. This has led to comparisons with Germany’s 2014 World Cup winning captain Phillip Lahm and may explain why so many clubs have taken an interest in his talents.
Despite only being a teenager, Karbownik has already played 41 times for Legia including as a key component in the side which lifted the Ekstraklasa title in 2019-20. He is yet to score a senior goal, but a return of seven assists highlight his abilities as an attacker.
In the future, Tariq Lamptey as right wing back and Karbownik on the left could be a seriously exciting prospect, presuming the Albion can fend off interest from Bayern Munich and elsewhere for Lampety.
According to the Scottish Sun, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, Napoli, Dynamo Moscow, Sevilla, PSV Eindhoven, Real Betis and Celtic had Karbownik on their wish lists. For Brighton to secure him ahead of those names represents something of a coup.
Not that Brighton signing Karbownik and Moder has gone down well in all quarters. Some Albion fans have lost their minds at the club spending nearly £15 million on a midfielder and defender who will not be seen in a Seagulls shirt for at least three months when we have failed to sign a striker.
If Neal Maupay breaks a leg and Aaron Connolly tears a hamstring on training in Wednesday, Graham Potter will suddenly find himself without a recognised centre forward for the next three months – unless Brighton sign a striker from an English club as the domestic window remains open until October 16th.
The lack of new striker has seen Twitter resemble a civil war at times which has made for fantastic reading. And whilst it is a concern that the Albion haven’t addressed the one glaring hole in the squad, signing two of Poland’s best young players is not the reason that Brighton have failed to find forward reinforcements.
The feeling at WAB Towers is that we should optimistic about Brighton & Hove Albion capturing Moder and Karbownik. The Seagulls have hoovered up some of the brightest talents in Europe this summer including Andi Zeqiri, Lars Dendoncker and Reda Khadra.
If just two or three of them reach their potential, then the future looks very bright for the Albion – providing the current first team squad have the firepower to keep us in the Premier League until the likes of Moder and Karbownik are ready for Premier League football.
