Pawel Brozek: I had no choice to make as Rangers never made an offer

PAWEL Brozek has set his sights on earning a permanent move to Celtic by dislodging Gary Hooper or Anthony Stokes from the SPL leaders’ front line between now and the end of the season.

The 28-year-old Polish international striker was formally unveiled by Celtic yesterday, having joined them on loan from Turkish club Trabzonspor for the remainder of the current campaign.

Brozek was also wanted by Rangers manager Ally McCoist but insists the Scottish champions made no serious attempt to sign him. Celtic have an option to recruit the former Wisla Krakow player on a permanent basis for a fee of around £650,000 this summer if he impresses in Glasgow.

He faces a challenge to establish himself as a first pick in Celtic manager Neil Lennon’s starting line-up, with Hooper and Stokes having netted 33 goals between them so far this season to help keep the Parkhead club in firm contention for all three domestic trophies.

“Of course I know that with Celtic being such a big club, there would be a lot of competition for places in the team,” said Brozek. “But I am always up for a challenge and if I didn’t think I would be playing, I would not have come here. I will do everything I can and give my best performances to try my best to make sure I stay with Celtic beyond this season.

“I first became aware of Celtic’s interest in me last Thursday. There was no official contact from Rangers and Celtic showed greater determination to get me. Once they showed interest, we dealt with it all very quickly. It was all clear in my mind, there was no choice for me to make. Rangers never made an offer.”

A prolific goalscorer in Polish football, Brozek has struggled to replicate that form since moving to Trabzonspor 12 months ago. He has scored just three times in 19 appearances for the club and found it difficult to settle in the Black Sea city of Trabzon in the Asian part of Turkey.

“One of the problems was that in the Turkish League, every team can only have six foreigners playing,” said Brozek. “Trabzonspor use a system with just one striker and Burak Yilmaz, the star of the Turkish national team, was used in most games. He was playing great, is the top scorer in the league and deserved to play every week. I just could not knock him out of the team.

“I also wanted to come back to Europe and play again, because living in Turkey was pretty difficult. You have to go and see for yourselves why that is. There were some delays with payments to me but I have now received everything that I was due, as stated in my contract.

“There was nothing in particular in Turkey that I won’t miss, life there just didn’t work out for me. I just didn’t feel right living there and that’s why I wanted to get out. It’s not really such a big thing for me that there are other Polish people here in Scotland, unlike Turkey. It is just more important that Glasgow is a more beautiful city than Trabzon.”

Securing a place in Poland’s squad for this summer’s European Championship finals on home soil was also a major factor in Brozek’s desire to leave Turkey, having been advised to do so by his national team coach Franciscez Smuda. Brozek scored his eighth goal in 32 appearances for Poland when they defeated Hungary 2-1 in a friendly in Poznan in November.

“After that game, he [Smuda] suggested it would be in my own interest to move clubs,” said Brozek. “He didn’t suggest any particular club. The most important thing is for me to be playing regularly again. If I am, then hopefully I will be in the Poland squad this summer. Of course it would be a huge honour to play in the finals, especially in my own country.”

Brozek also sought guidance from Maciej Zurawski, a former team-mate at Wisla Krakow, who enjoyed a successful spell at Celtic under Gordon Strachan which included a winning goal in an Old Firm game at Ibrox in February 2006.

“That received a lot of coverage in Poland at the time,” said Brozek. “I’d love to emulate that but we’ll see how it goes for me here. I know all about the rivalry with Rangers and I hope I can do my bit to help Celtic come out on top. I’ve know Maciej for a long time and I followed how popular he was here.

“I spoke to him over the last few days. I know there is a long link between Polish players and Celtic, going back to Dariusz Dziekanowski, and I’m very pleased to be here now.”

Meanwhile, Mexican international midfielder Efrain Juarez returned to Celtic yesterday for the rest of the season after spending the first half of the campaign on loan at Real Zaragoza in Spain. Celtic manager Neil Lennon has welcomed the additional cover in his squad for long term injury victim Beram Kayal.

“We are pleased to have Efrain back,” said Lennon. “He will provide us with some more options in the side, particularly with Beram being out injured, as we look ahead to the second-half of the season.”