Coming to America / Klimala leaves Celtic for New York Red Bulls
Patryk Klimala has sealed a deal with New York Red Bulls – and Celtic are believed to have recouped their £3.5 million outlay on the Polish striker. Klimala was signed by Neil Lennon in January last year, with Celtic seeing off interest from FC Copenhagen to land the 22-year-old from Jagiellona Bialystok.
But he has hit just three goals in 28 appearances. Indeed, most of the Polish forward’s appearances have come from the bench and he started just five games across his entire Parkhead career.
Klimala will now move to the MLS where he’ll feature alongside former Celtic youth player Cameron Harper.
Celtic confirmed the deal yesterday, saying: “Everyone at Celtic FC thanks Patryk Klimala for his contribution to the club and wishes him every success in the future.”
Klimala found himself behind Albian Ajeti in the pecking order at Parkhead and couldn’t make an impact when Odsonne Edouard was out of the team late last year.
Stadiums belonging to Super League clubs are set to be shunned when UEFA considers contingency options for staging Euro 2020 this summer.
There had been reports before the weekend that Tottenham's new stadium - one of the most impressive in Europe - might be considered, but any chance of that appears to have been extinguished by their involvement in the plans to form a breakaway competition which have since been abandoned.
Clubs receive a stadium hire fee from UEFA and it is understood European football's governing body would be unwilling to line the pockets of the rebel teams. UEFA'S executive committee is set to make a final decision on hosting for the finals at a meeting this morning.
Bilbao and Dublin appear to be almost certainly out, but it is understood it would still come as a surprise if Munich dropped out.
The Spanish federation seems intent on moving the Bilbao matches to Seville, but what happens to Dublin's matches is less clear-cut.
It is understood the preference is to use existing venues wherever possible, as any new venue would need to be "dressed" with Euro 2020 branding and signage.
The Football Association has said it is ready to host extra games. However, Wembley would be unable to take on at least one of Dublin's matches - Sweden v Slovakia on June 18 - because it is hosting England v Scotland the same day.
The venues cannot host more than one match a day because they will need to be disinfected between games.
World Cup 2018 hosts Russia have also expressed an interest in taking on extra games, and none of St Petersburg's clash with Dublin's fixtures.
Budapest has been a go-to neutral venue for UEFA club competition matches amid coronavirus travel restrictions this year, and its federation president, Sandor Csanyi, is highly thought of within UEFA and holds a vice-presidency.
The Hungarian city has also made the most ambitious commitment in terms of stadium capacity, advising UEFA that the Puskas Arena could be 100 per cent full.
Hampden Park is due to host four matches, at 25 per cent capacity.