MACIEJ ZURAWSKI may not go down as one of the great Celtic strikers, but the 20 goals he plundered in his first season at the club played a vital part in Gordon Strachan’s side securing a league and League Cup double.

He reached that tally too having overcome something of a slow start to his Celtic career following his arrival from Wisla Krakow in the summer of 2005, so he is well-placed to advise his young compatriot Patryk Klimala about the value of patience as he looks to make his mark in his new surroundings.

Klimala was handed his first start in a Celtic jersey in Sunday’s 3-0 win over Clyde at Broadwood. He didn’t find the net, missing a one-on-one with home keeper David Mitchell in his only real clear-cut opportunity, but Celtic assistant John Kennedy declared himself pleased with the forward's contribution.

He may not be framing the shirt he wore as a momento of the afternoon, not because of his performance, but due to the Celtic kitman spelling his surname wrong on the back. With time though, and with a little work on his weaknesses, Zurawski is sure that the attributes possessed by Klimala – his blinding speed, especially – will mean that everyone will know his name soon enough.

“He is very quick,” Zurawski said. “Very, very quick. And he’s extremely good one-on-one, when he faces up the defender.

“The one area of his game he has to improve his finishing, converting chances into goals. But you can see that he has the potential – and that finishing touch will come in time.

“This is a really good opportunity for Patryk Klimala, who has gone to the perfect club in Celtic. He will get great experience at Celtic. But he has to show patience. It’s not easy to get into that team. Then, when he gets his chance, he has to take it.

“At a club like Celtic, competing against Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths, it’s going to take something special – and that means taking any chance gets.

“So, he has to bide his time and be ready for the opportunity when it comes.

“Obviously I’m not the Celtic coach, so you have to imagine what Neil Lennon is thinking about how to use Patryk.

“But I think he could form a partnership with either Edouard or Griffiths, because he’s good enough.”

Zurawski knows that it will only be natural for people to draw comparisons between himself and Klimala, but he hopes that the weight of expectation which was upon him when he arrived as captain of Poland isn’t being placed on the shoulders of the inexperienced 21-year-old.

“It’s difficult to compare him,” he said. “He is still very young.

“When I first signed for Celtic, I had already scored 100 goals in the Polish top division. I was a more senior and established footballer.

“He is still very early in his career. Neil Lennon himself says he didn’t know so much about him. But the backroom staff will be learning about him all the time.

“He’s in the right place. But he’s going to have to work at it.”

Zurawski thinks that the move to Celtic can help Klimala’s own international ambitions in time, although he caveats that by acknowledging the calibre of the competition he is up against.

“Again, he has to be patient on that front,” he said. “It’s not as if Poland are short of good strikers at the moment.

“They’ve got Robert Lewandowski, Arkadiusz Milik and (Krzysztof) Piatek all ahead of him. I don’t think the national coach is going to change that any time soon.

“But he has a chance because he’s at a big club. If he gets into that Celtic team and scores goals, he gives the national team coach a decision to make.”