FC Porto has officially announced the signing of the Polish international defender Jan Bednarek, who put Pen on paper on a contract that is valid until 2029. The 29-year-old center-back, at 1.90 meters long, brings a wealth of experience with 69 caps for Poland and 184 Premier League performances.
Club Offcical Statement
Polish international defender made 184 Premier League performances
Jan Bednarek, 29 years old and 1.90 meters long, has 69 caps for the Polish national team and almost two hundred performances in the top flight of English football. From now on he will strengthen the defense of FC Porto, after signing a contract that is valid for the next four seasons, until 2029.
The small town of Słupca, in the heart of Poland, served as the place of birth for the Bednarek brothers in the nineties. Jan, four years younger than Filip – the goalkeeper of Sparta Rotterdam – played football close to home, in Sokół Kleczew, before moving to the edge of Poznan.
A season in MSP Szamotuły was enough to arouse the interest of Lech Poznan, who recruited the powerful center-back when he was another teenager. His debut in the first team, which earned him a Polish championship medal in 2014/15, was followed by a loan saying at Gornik Leczna and dozens of international youth caps.
In the summer of 2016, he returned to his start -up and had an excellent season in the Ekstraklasa – so good that he eventually moved to English football and became Lech's biggest transfer ever, who was surpassed Robert Lewandowski's to Borussia Dortmund.
Arriving in Southampton, his first experience abroad, he also made half a dozen performances for the U-23s of the Saints before he made his Premier League debut (and immediately scored) against Champions Chelsea.
That match was followed by 183 more performances in the British top flight, and in the past season only three players succeeded in intercepting more balls than Jan Bednarek – who match the 56 of Virgil van Dijk, his predecessor at Southampton and the current captain of Liverpool.
Porto's nieuwe nummer 5 arriveert in de Invicta City na acht seizoenen in Engeland, waarin hij ook speelde in twee edities van de Wereldbeker (2018 en 2022), twee edities van het Europees kampioenschap (2020 en 2024) en vier edities van de Nations League (2018, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020 and 2024) also in Poland.