Solid youth fundaments

"Lech’s made from youth” was a commonly used phrase – among supporters, experts, rivals and media – in reference of the Poznań-based club last season. Although the 2019/20 campaign has long ended, the statement remains true. The youth-related statistics serve as proof of the domination of Lech’s Academy. Even though the club from Poznań still has one postponed match to play (against Pogoń Szczecin, which has been scheduled for December 16^th), they still have an advantage over Stal Mielec that is currently occupying the second spot in the classification.

source: ekstrastats.pl

Six Academy players make up Lech’s numbers – Jakub Moder, Jakub Kamiński, Tymoteusz Puchacz, Filip Marchwiński, Michał Skóraś and Filip Szymczak. What about goals and assists? Here Lech is also the leader with 5 goals scored by their youngsters. Legia and Pogoń, who are ranked second, have had only 2 goals produced by their U-21 players.

• Jakub Moder: 3 goals - 2 assists
• Jakub Kamiński: 1 goal - 1 assist (first homegrown player to score in the 2020/21 Ekstraklasa campaign)
• Filip Marchwiński: 1 goal

Interestingly, when it comes to the number of youth players who got to appear on the league pitches, only Górnik Zabrze managed to beat Lech, having given an opportunity to 9 Academy products.

In addition, the successful Academy has helped Lech dominate one more classification – the highest average of youth players in the squad - which has impacted the average age of the senior team.

source: ekstrastats.pl

If we were to also consider the age of substitute players, according to football-observatory.com, the Poznań team would have just slightly higher age average, 25,3, whereas Górnik Zabrze would swap places in the table with Cracovia with an age average of 25,4 and 25,6 respectively.