New arrivals won’t faze Klimala as he strives to scale the heights at Celtic
PATRYK KLIMALA waited months for his first Celtic goal. His reward? A week of reports linking his club to a host of new strikers.
Fortunately for the Polish front man, life in Scotland has presented him with a new hobby that allows him to quite literally place his head in the clouds rather than worry about all the players who might be coming to challenge his place in the pecking order.
‘I like life here in Glasgow, you have very nice views,’ says Klimala. ‘The weather doesn’t matter. Sometimes you have sun, sometimes you have rain, but me and my fiancée often walk on the hills with our dog.
‘We don’t have these sorts of hills in Poland, so I like to go there and just chill.’
Praised by the Celtic backroom staff for the condition in which he returned from lockdown, Klimala did not spend hours honing his physique merely to ramble through the Campsies.
Signed for £3million from Jagellonia Bialystok in January, he was still in the process of settling in when coronavirus cut last season short.
Steven Fletcher, Ivan Toney and Albian Ajeti have all been on Neil
Lennon’s radar as he seeks reinforcements for a packed fixture schedule, yet in just eight minutes as a substitute against Hamilton last weekend, Klimala proved that he may have something to offer.
Overshadowed by Odsonne Edouard’s hat-trick on day one of the new Premiership season, the Polish forward conjured a smartlytaken goal.
With talks on a new contract for Edouard at an impasse, Leigh Griffiths out of favour and Vakoun Issouf Bayo set to join Toulouse on loan, Lennon’s need for fresh options is understandable.
Having celebrated his 22nd birthday last Wednesday, Klimala has youth on his side and insists new signings need not make him dispensable.
‘I don’t see any problems with that,’ he says. ‘I am in good shape, so no problems, Celtic can take another striker.
‘I am in good shape, Odsonne is in good shape, so no problem.’
Bought for a record £9m fee after a year on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, Edouard is sure to generate a significant profit when he is eventually sold.
Yet his signing represented a break from the club’s established transfer model.
Over the past decade, Celtic have made a point of sourcing strikers in the £1-3m bracket. Unable to obtain the finished article or even the most dazzling young players, the policy of panning for unpolished gems carries risk and has yielded limited success.
For every Griffiths or Gary Hooper procured during Lennon’s first spell there was a Mo Bangura or an Amido Balde. Ronny Deila got little return from Stefan Scepovic or Nadir Ciftci.
More recently, Brendan Rodgers sanctioned a punt on Bayo after a prolific spell in Slovakia but, beset by injuries, the Ivorian returned just two goals before Friday’s flit to France.
The jury remains out on Klimala, a serving Polish Under-21 international.
Darting on to Christopher Jullien’s through pass last weekend, he displayed a mixture of strength and speed before clipping a finish across the Accies keeper and into the far corner.
Edouard’s classy style may be easier on the eye but the goal was not the sort of thing you would expect the Frenchman to produce.
Klimala’s arrival at the club helped spur Griffiths on to some fine form alongside Edouard early in 2020 and, if Lennon chooses to revive the 3-5-2 formation, he might offer something to complement the country’s Player of the Year.
‘We can work together, of course,’ continues Klimala. ‘I watch Odsonne to see how he plays. I learn a lot from him and I think if we play with two strikers we can score a lot of goals.
‘I think Odsonne plays more with his back to goal. I can do that too but we can’t both do that if there are two strikers.
‘One will have to go in behind and if we play with two I will be the one to do that. I can play wherever you want. At the beginning, I played only behind the defenders but now my manager and team-mates have helped me adapt.’
Nevertheless, the wait for recognition has been testing. If lockdown presented an exercise in patience and endurance for us all, Klimala’s dose of inactivity stretches back to the first days of the year.
Restricted to three substitute appearances and one start in a Scottish Cup win at Clyde, Klimala was locked out of the team but rejected the chance to return to Poland when society was placed into cold storage.
Following the club’s tailored individual training programme, he
You have very nice views here. I like to go to the hills and just chill out
resolved to use the time out constructively.
The physical work came easily enough and he also threw himself into the process of learning English. As a result, he feels better prepared to contribute to the team effort this term.
‘Before quarantine I didn’t have time to make good relationships with my team-mates because I couldn’t speak the language so well,’ admits Klimala. Now, I speak it not too badly and I think I have good relationships.’
Klimala would not be the first player to take his time to settle at Parkhead.
Fellow January arrival Ismaila Soro arrived billed as a potential deputy and long-term replacement for Scott Brown but has yet to make a competitive appearance.
And it took full-back Greg Taylor several months to make an impact after his transfer last year from today’s opponents, Kilmarnock.
Klimala adds: ‘I waited for my chance. In the beginning, I thought I would play more but I am calm and waited for a long time in the league.
‘I played for eight minutes last weekend against Hamilton, scored a goal and was very happy. After the game, the manager told me: “Good job, well done”.
‘But it’s only one goal, not 28. I have only played eight minutes, so it’s really a little job. It’s nothing special.
‘Edouard is a good player. That’s why I didn’t play for longer. He scored three goals and if I had scored three goals I would want to stay out on the pitch.
‘I never make any targets before the season because football is very quick to change. I want to play every week and score a lot of goals. That’s my target.’