THE GOAL STANDARD
£3.5m Parkhead star Klimala in pledge to deliver title glory
PATRYK KLIMALA last night clinched his £3.5million move to Celtic and insisted he’s ready to supply the goals as the Parkhead club aim to clinch a record-equalling nine consecutive Scottish titles. The Poland Under-21 striker, who scored seven goals in 17 Polish top-flight matches for Jagiellonia Bialystok this season, penned a four-and-ahalf-year contract with the Scottish champions after jetting into Glasgow on Sunday night and passing a medical. Klimala will meet up with his new team-mates today before being unveiled to the media this afternoon at Celtic Park. He could be set to make his debut in Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup clash against Championship strugglers Partick Thistle at The Energy Check Stadium at Firhill. Vowing he is ready to hit the ground running in Scottish football, the former Legia Warsaw prospect, who has also had loan spells at Lechia Dzierzoniow and Wigry Suwalki in his homeland, insists
he is ready to challenge Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths for a place in Neil Lennon’s starting line-up. ‘I understand how massive a club Celtic is, but I feel I’m ready for this now,’ Klimala told Celtic TV. ‘I’m looking forward to playing for a club with such a big history. I know Celtic are a huge club in Europe. I want to give fans a lot of happiness and hopefully score a lot of goals for Celtic. It’s a big moment for me and I’m very excited. ‘The last 24 hours were intense. I was waiting for the decision to be finalised so I could finally come here and meet everyone. I had the chance to see the stadium and I felt the atmosphere. ‘It was amazing, so I’m looking forward to playing here in front of the fans. I’m very happy that everything is finished now and looking good.’ Klimala’s arrival is likely to further marginalise Lennon’s fringe players. Last night, Griffiths fuelled speculation that his Celtic career was coming to an end on social media. The forward ‘liked’ a tweet from a journalist claiming that the Pole’s arrival was likely to mean his or Issouf Vakoun Bayo’s days at Parkhead were numbered, before deleting his account. Meanwhile, Celtic target Ismaila Soro showed such commitment to becoming a top professional that he turned out in a European qualifier the day after the death of his father, his old manager has revealed.
Lennon remains keen on securing the midfielder in a £2m deal from Israeli side Bnei Yehuda. And Soro’s former boss, Yossi Abukasis, revealed a remarkable incident which underlined Soro’s dedication to the club and has led him to the brink of a big move to Parkhead. Bnei Yehuda were playing a Europa League qualifier this season in Azerbaijan against Neftci in Baku when Soro received dreadful news about his father back in his native Ivory Coast. ‘This is an example of Ismaila’s great desire to progress and make it as a top footballer,’ recalled Abukasis. ‘His father was sick back home and, a day before the game in Baku, he received the worst possible news a 21-year-old could get, that his father had passed away. But Soro did not want to let his team-mates down and not play in Europe. ‘He was perfectly normal to everyone — it was as if nothing had happened. He told the management quietly what had happened and gave us an express demand — we were not to tell any of the players about his tragedy until after the game. ‘Ismaila believed the news might disrupt the build-up of the team for the match and affect our chances of qualifying. He played in a 2-2 draw which meant we qualified for the next round. He provided an assist and was brilliant. ‘He is incredibly professional, very driven, and focused on becoming a big player at a top club in Europe.’