John Kennedy reckons that the £3.5m transfer of Patryk Klimala – known as Polish Paddy to the Celtic support – to New York Red Bulls will be completed imminently and the interim Celtic manager reckons that it’s a good deal for all parties, including the striker himself who has struggled to force his way into the starting eleven at Celtic.
“Patryk has been in discussions with New York Red Bulls so he will be going out there in the next couple of days to finalise things,” Kennedy told the Mainstream Media Conference ahead of today’s Scottish Cup 4th Round tie at Ibrox.
Photo by Stuart Wallace
“It is a situation that arose and it’s a good deal for the club and Patryk was keen to move out there as well. It makes sense for us, it’s a good opportunity for him and it’s good for the club and we certainly wish Patryk all the best with that one if it gets finalised,” Kennedy added.
“Patryk is a terrific boy, he’s worked ever so hard. Even while he’s been here there have been lots of development around his know-how in games. He’s very much a guy who likes playing on the counter-attack, he has good speed to run in behind. When you have the quality we have he’s found it difficult to get game time and this opportunity has come up and it’s probably a good fit for him.
Photo: Ian McNichol
“He will probably do well for them and it’s a good deal for the club at the same time so it made sense for him to move on and over the next few days that will be finalised and we wish him all the best.
“It was a discussion around it between myself and obviously Peter and the board. Patryk was part of it too obviously. He wanted that opportunity, he’s come in and been here over a year now and there’s not been a lot of opportunities for him.
“Again, it was one that made sense. It wasn’t too difficult a decision.”