Michalik: Lubomir

2007-Current (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Central Defender

Born: Cadca, Slovakia: 13-08-1983

Debut: v Luton Town (h): 10-03-2007

6’4” 13st (2007)

Lubomir Michalik played for Cadca, his hometown in Slovakia and join FC Senec in July 2005. After scoring twice in twenty games, Michalik signed for Bolton Wanderers on 25th January 2007 from the Slovakian team on a three and a half year contract for an undisclosed transfer fee. In March 2007, as Bolton sought to help him acclimatise to English football following his arrival, Centre-back Michalik was loaned by Bolton to Championship strugglers Leeds United on a one month deal. The defender's performances earned a great deal of credit from the Leeds faithful, particularly due to his match-winning goal on 7th April 2008 in a 2-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle. As a result of his strong performances, then Leeds manager Dennis Wise extended the Slovakian's loan deal until the end of the season. However, the Trotters recalled Michalik due to a spate of injuries to their first choice centre-backs. He made his debut the day after his recall, as a substitute, against Reading in a 3-1 defeat. Michalik again impressed and coped with the pressures of EPL football, scoring with a header against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Dennis Wise continued to express his liking for the player, and attempted to re-sign the defender in the January 2008 transfer window. The deal went through after Wise had departed from Leeds, as, upon the appointment of Gary McAllister as Leeds boss, the Yorkshire side remained insistant on their determination to sign the Slovak. On the final day of the transfer window, a deal was concluded and Michalik signed a three-and-a-half-year deal for a fee of £500,000. Michalik scored once in making eleven League appearances, including three as a substitute, and also made one F.A. Cup start, one start and one game from the bench in the League Cup and three starts in the UEFA Cup, without adding to his goal total for Bolton. Michalik was able to install himself as a regular after his second signing with Leeds, often in partnership with Paul Huntington. He was suspended after being sent off against Crewe Alexandra on 6th September 2008 and after that he seemed to lose form and found himself omitted from the team in favour of new signing Richard Naylor by new Manager Simon Grayson. He could not regain his former position at the heart of the defence, but remained in the squad and often came off the bench as the first choice if there was an injury to a defender. He scored his first goal for Leeds since signing permanently on 5th September 2009 against Stockport County. With the signing of Richard Naylor and Leigh Bromby competition for the central defensive positions at Elland Road became intense and later when Neill Collins was loaned he rarely featured. He was clearly out of favour and it came as no surprise when he was not retained at the end of the season. By this time he had played four times for Slovakia. He debuted as a second half substitute on 10th December 2006 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, getting the Slovakian second goal in a 2-0 win against the UAE in a friendly. He played his second match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, as a late substitute, on 28th March 2007, in the European Championship Qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland. In the same competition he was an unused substitute against Germany on 6th June 2008 and then started at the Generali Arena, home of AC Sparta Prague against Czech Republic on 17th November 2008, as they lost 1-3, and against San Marino at the Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, four days later. This was a game in which he opened the scoring in the forty-second minute as Slovakia won 5-0. In May 2010 he was included in a twenty-nine man squad by Slovakia for the World Cup, but was later omitted from the final twenty-three. On 31st August 2010 Michalik was loaned to Carlisle United until 3rd January 2011. He made his Carlisle debut in a 0-0 home draw with Swindon Town on 4th September 2010. He scored his first goal for Carlisle in a 4-0 win at Hartlepool United on 28th September 2010 with a forty-yard shot. However he ran into slight injury problems, was not permitten to play in the F.A. Cup and then had a suspension for being sent off, all of which restricted his availability for the Brunton Park team, but when he reurned to Elland Road at the end of his loan period he had scored once in thirteen starts in the League and once in two starts in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. He returned to Leeds on 11th January and, with six months still to run on his contract, the club agreed to mutually rescind it and on 14th January 2011 he joined Carlisle United on a free transfer on an eighteen month contract. By the end of that contract he had started a further fifty-two league games as well as adding three further from the bench and had managed one further League goal, which had come two minutes from time in a 1-2 defeat by Brentford at Griffin Park on 25th March 2011. He had also scored one goal in two starts in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and made two starts in the F.A. Cup. While at Carlisle he had added three more International caps to his collection, which brought him to seven. his fifth cap came on 10th August 2008 at the Hypo Group Arena, Klagenfurt in a 2-1 away win over Austria in a Friendly. His sixth was over three years later, on 11th October 20011, in a European Championship Qualifier in a 1-1 draw with Macedonia at National Arena Philip II of Macedon, Skopje and to date his final cap came in another Friendly Hypo Group Arena, Klagenfurt, Austria in a 0-1 defeat by Poland on 26th May 2012. He turned down a move to Hibernian soon after his contract expired but signed for Portsmouth on 14th September 2012 on a one month contract. He made his debut in a 1-2 defeat by Swindon Town at Fratton Park, but Michalik did have the consolation of scoring the Pompey goal in injury time. He had scored the one League goal in seventeen starts and one game as a substitute in the League together with one start in each of the F.A. Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy, after making his final appearance for Portsmouth on 4th January 2013 in a 0-2 defeat at Walsall, when he decided not to renew his rolling one month contract on 14th January 2013. The following day he signed with Kazakhstan club Kairat Almaty and has become a regular, making his debut in their first game of the season in a 3-3 home draw with Zhetysu Taldykorgan on 9th March 2013. He scored his first goal for the club in the twenty-seventh minute to make the score 2-0 in a home game against Tobol Kostanay on 14th April 2013, which they eventually won 4-2. He made his twenty-sixth appearance out of a possible twenty-seven on 22nd September 2013 in a 3-3 home draw with FC Shakhter Karagandy.