The striker was at the centre of an Old Firm transfer tug-of-war in January 2012 but opted for a move to Parkhead.
He was at the centre of an Old Firm transfer tug-of-war as Celtic and Rangers battled it out for his signature. But it’s fair to say he failed to live up to the hype during a miserable short-term loan spell in Glasgow.
Pawel Brozek was the man in-demand in January 2012 as Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist attempted to add some firepower to their ranks for the title run-in. A prolific goalscorer in Poland with Wisła Kraków, the 28-year-old was keen to kickstart his career after a sticky year-and-a-half with Trabzonspor. In the end, Celtic won the race to sign the striker on loan as the Pole opted to join fellow countryman Lukasz Zaluska at Parkhead.
However, the Polish international’s hopes of making the Euro 2012 squad suffered a heavy blow as he struggled to get a look-in at the Hoops. Brozek found himself rooted to the bench and third-choice behind lethal pair Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes. He slipped even further down the pecking order when he was hauled off in his only start for the club away to Motherwell for teenage prodigy Tony Watt, who marked a dream debut with a deadly double. After just three appearances in green-and-white, Brozek wasn’t seen again and packed his bags weeks before the curtain fell on Celtic’s title-winning campaign.
Rather than concede he simply wasn’t up to the job in Glasgow, Brozek opted to lay the blame at Lennon’s door by accusing the Irishman of going against his word. He lashed out: “Things did not work out for me as planned. I changed club as I wanted to play as much as possible. I do not want to complain about any of the other players or say that the coach did not like me and that is why he did not choose to put me on the pitch.
“But the facts are there that Neil Lennon promised me something and then another thing happened afterwards. I did not get many opportunities from him and I was left dry of games.”
Despite the fact he couldn’t hit a barn door at Celtic, the frontman was somehow handed an international lifeline by landing a place in the 23-man squad for the Euros. National boss Frantisek Smuda stood by the misfiring forward as he declared: “Brozek has been for years one of our most talented strikers. He has scored goals against Argentina, Mexico and hungary and, with three weeks to prepare, he will be able to enter the finals of Euro 2012 and show his class.”
Unsurprisingly, he made just a couple of cameos from the bench as he played second fiddle to Borussia Dortmund superstar Robert Lewandowski. Brozek’s career seemed to be fizzling out after another ill-fated year at Spanish second-tier club Recreativo de Huelva. But after returning to first club Wisła Kraków, he quickly rediscovered his shooting boots – plundering 65 goals across seven seasons before retiring in 2020.
