The lowdown on Birmingham City flier who refused to be 'pushed to left-back'

Birmingham City have signed Norwich City winger Przemysław Płacheta on loan for the 2022/2023 campaign. Here’s what you need to know about a player who struggled for game-time in the Premier League last season...

A flying winger, born in Łowicz in central Poland in March 1998. He comes from an athletic family, with his brother Marcin a former youth European champion in the 4x100 meters relay and an Olympic bobsleigh racer. Another brother Sylwester was a former professional foobal with MKS Kutno. He has played in both Poland, Germany and England and can operate on either wing.

His first club was ŁKS Łódź whom he joined after his father say an advert in a newspaper. “To this day, I remember that day and how happy I was then. It was a unique experience,” Placheta said. Eventually the commute became an issue and after a year-and-a-half he moved to Polonia Warsaw, with whose coach Michał Maliszewski he remains in contact.

At just 17-years-old he moved to RB Leipzig where ex-Manchester United head coach Ralf Rangnick was in charge of all footballing matter. Indeed after only a few weeks Rangnick called him up for friendly matches against Dukla Praga and Werder Bremen.

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A chance to play senior football came in the German third tier came in 2017 and he leapt at it. He joined Leipzig’s partner club Sonnenhof Großaspach and he made a good start before things went awry. “I had a goal and an assist. I thought it was going in the right direction, but the coach was pushing me to left-back. I didn't feel good there. I was always drawn to the front. I would go up the wing or the "10" but I didn't play much.”

Placheta moved back to Poland with Pogoń Siedlce and