Chris Sutton believes that Patryk Klimala should be in Neil Lennon’s starting XI for the Glasgow Derby on Saturday.
The striker has only started one match this season but has become a more impressive and influential substitute as he adapts to the demands of the Scottish game, scoring three times coming off the bench.
Leigh Griffiths’ goal against St Johnstone took most of the attention from Celtic’s last outing but the way that Klimala bounced off the deck from a brutal Liam Gordon attack to score Celtic’s second changed opinions.
During Lockdown the Polish striker hit the weights and the clippers to transform his appearance but it took his goal in Perth to convince some Celtic fans that he is the real deal.
Various doubts hang over the availability of Odsonne Edouard, Albian Ajeti and Leigh Griffiths with Klimala playing 83 minutes on Tuesday for the Polish u-21 against Bulgaria.
Neil Lennon’s side won’t emerge till 11.15 on Saturday morning but surveying the options Sutton told the Record Podcast:
It’s interesting isn’t it. Neil Lennon could have those three players on the bench, but we can’t honestly say they’ll be up to speed fitness-wise. That’s just not going to be the case.
Leigh Griffiths could have had another couple of weeks of training under his belt which would have been important but he’s been missing for months and months and months now.
Condition-wise, he wouldn’t be at that level. Ajeti was doing alright, surprising at times when Neil left him out and tried to nurture him because he was always wary about him getting an injury, which eventually he did get.
But you can’t go into these games half-baked. That’s the issue, you can’t have somebody up top who’s not fit enough and not going to cause a problem. So I think, at this moment in time, Neil’s hand looks like it’s pretty much forced into playing Klimala.
If I’m honest, when I first saw Klimala, I didn’t think that he was anywhere near up to the mark but he’s growing on me and I think he’s growing on the Celtic fans. They know they’re going to get a good, honest shift in, they know that he can be nuisance value.
I think his finishing can improve, but I like how he’s improving in a Celtic jersey. So if you’re asking me at this moment in time who is going to start up top, I think it will be Patryk Klimala.
The only match that Klimala has started was the 2-1 win away to St Johnstone last month, after 66 minutes he was replaced with Ajeti.
