Celtic legend Chris Sutton has criticised the club’s January signing Patryk Klimala and has revealed that he hasn’t been convinced by the signature of the Polish striker.
Sutton was recently a guest on the latest episode of the Record Celtic podcast and the panel was talking about many things involving the Parkhead side. While discussing Celtic’s current striker situation though, Sutton had some criticism for Klimala and he made it very clear.
Klimala had arrived at the Glasgow club in the January of 2020 from Polish club Jagiellonia Bialystok. The Hoops had acquired his services for a fee of £3.60 million (via Transfermarkt).
While talking about Klimala though, Sutton said that he hasn’t been too impressed with the Pole and wants to see more.
The former Hoops player said: “I saw Klimala, where was that? Clyde. He had his only full game. I didn’t really know what he was. People talked about him. Celtic bought him for his pace.
“He didn’t look absolutely rapid to me. Was his link up secure? Was his hold up play good enough? I didn’t really see it.
“I know people can say well, he hasn’t had much of an opportunity and I get that but Neil Lennon and the coaching staff see him every day in training. How many times was he left on the bench in the last couple of months that Celtic played – numerous times.”
Does Klimala need a loan move away from Celtic?
Yes, he needs it
No, we need to keep him
“So he couldn’t have been that impressive. So, he’s one who really needs to pull his finger out. Now, I know Callum McGregor did an interview where he said he’s [Klimala] bulked up.
“So, he’s obviously a conscientious boy and he wants to do well. But whatever way you look at it, when Celtic spend £3.5 million on a player, then they want him to fire and I would be worried if I was Neil Lennon.”
It is pretty clear that Sutton isn’t impressed with what he’s seen of the striker so far and is worried about his situation at Parkhead.
TIF Thoughts…
While Klimala did join in January, he is yet to make a single start in the Premiership for the Hoops. But he played for the club in the Scottish Cup game against Partick Thistle and later made a start against Clyde in the next round of the competition (via Transfermarkt).
The striker, who is valued at £3.24 million by Transfermarkt, is only 21 and the fact that he got an assist against Clyde shows that there might be some talent in there. While Sutton is certainly entitled to his opinion about the Pole, Klimala might just need some time to settle in and could later make an impact. He is still young and has some time on his hands to do just that. So in this case, patience might be key for Celtic.