HE’s played against Manchester United superstar Paul Pogba and had former Atletico Madrid star Yannick Ferreira Carrasco as a team-mate – but thanks to his mum and Google he’s now playing for the Adelaide Comets in the NPL.

Centre-back Mateusz Kuzmicki has flown under the A-League radar after he was lauded as being one the best of his generation when captained and represented Belgium in underage teams.

media_camera William Plush of Birkalla tackles Mateusz Kuzmicki of the Comets. Picture: AAP Image/James Elsby

Born in Poland, the now 25-year-old – a product of Belgium’s super Club Brugge – landed in Adelaide after taking a sabbatical from soccer in October 2016.

“I booked a one-way ticket to Sydney to explore Australia,’’ said Kuzmicki who expects to be in action when Comets host West Adelaide at the SA Athletics Stadium from 8.15pm Friday night.

“My mum has a high school friend who lived in Adelaide, I didn’t know him but mum had contact with him through Facebook.”

“He told mum ‘he (Kuzmicki) can come to Adelaide for a week or two weeks’.

“I did that at the beginning of my trip and he asked me what I did and I told I have always played soccer. He said maybe I should go on a trial here to see the level here. I thought ‘why not’ and I Googled, the second league in Australia and the first team that came up was Adelaide Comets.

media_camera Adelaide Comets' ex Belgium international Mateusz Kuzmicki before training at the SA Athletics Stadium. Picture: Arija Molitor:

“I sent them an email with my football history, I trained with Comets after their coach Theo Tsiounis asked me to come out and then they proposed to me a contract for the season.

“The national team was a nice experience.

“I played with Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and played against big names like Paul Pogba he was the captain of France and I was the captain of Belgium.”

Kuzmicki is in Australia on a tourist visa and must work at least 88 days a year to stay in the country to also play with Comets.

He currently shares a rented home at Unley working for Sunfresh Salads at Mawson Lakes.

“I did my 88 days but I’m still there on a part-time basis,’’ Kuzmicki said.

Kuzmicki was born in Olsztyn, Poland but his family moved to the city of Brugge when he was about 12 months old.

He speaks Flemish basic Polish, French and very good English.

“I played at Club Brugge for 14 years and I had a period when I was 14, 15, 16 and 17 years old where I was really good and I was like one of the best defenders of my generation,’’ Kuzmicki said.

“The national team was a nice experience, every month we had to go away from school for two weeks to play for Belgium, we went to Portugal, Switzerland, Russia, Spain all over Europe.

“I played with Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and played against big names like Paul Pogba he was the captain of France and I was the captain of Belgium.

“I was with Thorgan Hazard always together in the national team.”