Celtic’s faultless start to the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership campaign continued on Saturday with a comfortable 2-0 win over Hearts at Parkhead.
The Hoops have now won all five of their matches in the division, without conceding a single goal, after goals from new signings Arne Engels and Luke McCowan.
Despite the win, there were some underwhelming performers on the pitch for the Scottish giants and one of them was centre-forward Kyogo Furuhashi, who endured a difficult afternoon – losing 100% of his duels and leaving the pitch with no meaningful contributions.
FFC have urged Brendan Rodgers to finally ditch the Japan international from the starting XI and that would present Adam Idah with a chance to prove his worth.
Celtic splashed out a fee of £8.5m, which could rise to £9.5m with add-ons, to sign the Ireland international from Norwich City on a permanent deal, after his loan spell last term.
The Bhoys will be hoping that it turns out to be a profitable investment on the 23-year-old striker, as they have not always had the best of luck when spending big on new centre-forwards.
One number nine the club had a howler with initially was Patryk Klimala, who struggled at Parkhead before the club later hit the jackpot with him.
How much Celitc paid for Patryk Klimala
Back in January 2020, Celtic reportedly agreed a fee of around £3.5m to sign the 21-year-old marksman from Polish outfit Jagiellonia Białystok.
It was claimed at the time that Neil Lennon had identified the forward as a top target during the January transfer window, and that the Hoops had beaten Danish giants Copenhagen to his signature.
They activated a €4m release clause in his contract with the Polish side, which allowed them to secure his services for £3.5m, as Lennon viewed him as a strike partner for Odsonne Edouard.
He had come up through the youth ranks with Jagiellonia Białystok, where he scored a stunning 17 goals in nine U19 matches, before emerging as a first-team option.
Klimala scored 11 goals in 50 senior outings for the club, including seven goals in 17 league games during the first half of the 2019/20 campaign, and this shows that Celtic were buying him for his potential.
The 21-year-old striker did not arrive at Parkhead with a proven track record of scoring goals and that made the £3.5m spent on him a significant gamble by the Scottish giants.
Unfortunately, it was not a gamble that paid off for Celitc on the pitch as the Polish marksman went on to struggle throughout his time on the field for the Hoops.
Patryk Klimala’s Celtic career
The young striker only made four appearances in all competitions for the Bhoys during the second half of the 2019/20 campaign, and failed to find the back of the net.
After his return of seven goals and three assists in 17 Extraklasa matches during the first half of the season, the forward did not record a single goal or assist in his two outings in the Scottish Premiership.
Klimala was then offered more opportunities to showcase his qualities in Glasgow during his first full season at the club, in the 2020/21 campaign.
The Poland U21 international played 24 matches in all competitions for the Hoops but only contributed with three and zero assists for the Bhoys.
|
20/21 Premiership |
Patryk Klimala |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
17 |
|
Goals |
3 |
|
Big chances missed |
5 |
|
Assists |
0 |
|
Big chances created |
0 |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
|
As you can see in the table above, Klimala struggled at the top end of the pitch in the Premiership, with five ‘big chances’ missed and zero assists to go along with his three goals in 17 games.
The centre-forward only completed 68% of his attempted passes, completing 2.5 per game on average, as he struggled to handle the step up in quality in Scotland.
By April of that season, Celtic decided to part ways with the striker and, surprisingly, they were able to recoup all of the money they paid for him.
MLS side New York Red Bulls swooped in to sign the young attacker for a reported fee of $4.8m (£3.5m), per Sky Sports journalist Anthony Joseph, and the Hoops hit the jackpot with that sale, based on his decline since then.
Where Patryk Klimala is now
At the time of writing (16/09/2024), Klimala is on loan at Sydney FC in Australia, having joined them earlier this month, after being allowed to leave on a temporary basis by Slask Wroclaw.
Transfermarkt currently has his market value at a staggeringly low €600k (£500k), which is a significant drop-off from the £3.5m Celtic sold him for, at the age of 26.
The Polish striker enjoyed a solid, if unspectacular, time in the Big Apple after his move from Glasgow, with a return of 14 goals and 11 assists in 63 matches in all competitions.
He then spent a year with Hapoel Beer Sheva, from January 2023 to January 2024, and only managed four goals in 23 appearances for the club before being allowed to join Slask Wroclaw on a free transfer at the start of this year.
|
23/24 Ekstraklasa |
Patryk Klimala |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
11 |
|
Starts |
5 |
|
Goals |
0 |
|
Big chances missed |
4 |
|
Assists |
0 |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
|
As you can see in the table above, Klimala endured a frustrating time in the Polish top-flight for Wroclaw during the second half of the 2023/24 campaign, with zero goals and four ‘big chances’ missed in 11 matches.
The 26-year-old former Celtic flop was then dropped down to the second team for the start of this season and scored four goals in four games in the fourth tier before being sent out on loan to Australia.
Overall, this shows that the Hoops hit the jackpot when they sold their big flop for a fee of £3.5m as his career has gone downhill since moving on from Glasgow, as shown by his faltering form and his plummeting market value.
Klimala should be in the prime years of his career, at 26, but is, instead, struggling and moving from club-to-club to find his form, which shows that Celtic struck gold by raking in £3.5m for him.
