When Patryk Klimala moved to Celtic, fans were expectant of the youngster going on to do huge things at Celtic Park. The Polishman, 22, was signed from Jagiellonia Bialystok for a fee of £3.6million just 18 months ago; but things didn’t quite work out for the talismanic prospect, who ended up swapping the cold afternoons in Glasgow for the bright lights of New York.
Altogether, this served a bittersweet taste. Klimala was only brought in because Neil Lennon had missed out on long-term target, Andraz Sporar. Instead, the man from Slovan Bratislava opted for a move to Sporting Lisbon, who unlike their green and white hooped counterparts, won their national division – this time stopping the dominance of Porto and Benfica to claim a first title in 21 years.
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Sporar got off to a decent start in the Portuguese capital; scoring 6 league goals in just 16 league games, before a lacklustre second season saw him loaned out to SC Braga. However, after also failing to produce the goods at Estadio Municipal, Sporting have come to the conclusion that his time is up and he is better off elsewhere – especially as they embark on their first Champions League group stage since 2017-18.
According to The Daily Record, Sporting are looking to recoup £6.5m of the £7m they paid for the Slovenian, and with Celtic gaining £4m from the sale of Klimala to New York Red Bulls last month, there is a huge chance that this deal might happen. With Albian Ajeti disappointing in his first season, Leigh Griffiths continually touch-and-go following fitness issues and Odsonne Edouard set for pastures new, there may be 2 or 3 new incomings in the striker department. Hopefully Sporar is one of them.
