Tierney not going to Arsenal it appears. Celtic rejected another bid and the Herald are saying that was their limit and they won’t be bidding again.
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Article here.
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Bullet points:
- The Israeli chap is being mostly considered as a right back
- He’s a “fresh” 28
- Kayal can take the blame if he’s shit
- We’re looking for quality.
Celtic boss Neil Lennon has talked about the qualities that likely signing Hatem Abd Elhamed will bring to Chis side and says he wants more new signings to join the Israeli.
Lennon confirmed that a deal had been agreed with Hapoel Be’er Sheva for the right-back with paperwork and the player’s medical still to be concluded but he believes Celtic have identified a player that will bring what he wants to the back line.
“We think he’s a good player,” the manager said. "He’s strong defensively and comfortable on the ball. He’s very quick.
"I think he’d be a good addition to the squad and the players we already have here.
"He can play at centre half as well.
"I think we’re getting a good player who is hungry. People look at his age but he’s a fresh 28.
“His last three seasons he’s played very well at a good level and we’ve been very impressed with what we’ve seen from him.”
Lennon revealed that he had asked Celtic’s Israeli midfielder Nir Bitton for his take on Elhamed before making a bid and that he had consulted others while doing his research on the full-back.
“We leaned on a few people,” he said. "I spoke to [former Celtic midfielder] Beram Kayal and a few other people I know from within Israeli football and they all spoke very highly of him.
“We’ve done very well with Israel-based players over the years if you think of Bitton, Kayal, Ambrose. I got a good goalkeeper into Hibs in Marciano. It’s been a decent market for us.”
Elhamed’s transfer won’t be completed before the deadline for the Champions League second qualifying round against Nomme Kalju but Lennon is hoping that he can bring in more new faces as quickly as possible. He’s targeting another right-back and then aims to bring in another attacker but he said that the transfer market was tough to negotiate and that the club were working hard to ensure value for money.
“Considering how it was four or five years ago in my first spell here there’s no question that the market has risen rapidly, whether it be wages or transfer fees,” he said.
"It’s not like we haven’t got money to spend but we want to spend it wisely if we can.
"Sometimes you’re looking for resaleable value in a player but we’ve got a lot of assets in the squad already.
“We just want to get quality in at the right price and not overstretch ourselves.”
One player who won’t be joining is former Leicester City defender Danny Simpson. Lennon explained why a trial has been cancelled, saying other options were being targeted for the right side of defence.
“We were down the line with Elhamed and we have one or two other options so we just felt it would be futile for Danny to come in if he sees us bringing in a couple of players in his specific position,” he said. “So we decided to call off the trial on Friday.”
And Lennon said he hoped the club had fended off Arsenal’s interest in Kieran Tierney.
He said: "It’s as you were really. I’ve had no information other than there were two bids that came in from Arsenal that were rejected.
"There has been no further inroads into that really.
"We’re in a good position. We have got no intentions of selling, he’s on a long-term contract and we want him to progress with us.
"Our valuation of Kieran wasn’t met and it’s as simple as that.
"You will see other transfers not going through because valuations haven’t been met. It’s not a case of Arsenal being disrespectful.
“They put a bid in that they valued the player at. They came back again and obviously see Kieran as a very good player as we do. But on a long-term contract, we’re in a very strong position when it comes to Kieran.”
Yet Bitton and Lawell would get no blame off you - quelle surprise
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Apparently this lad was only converted to a right back a few years ago and had been an ineffectual (great football term) winger. A signing from Dudu Dahan’s books where Lennon sought advice from Bitton and Kayal. What could possibly go wrong?
No wonder he’s a fresh 28 so
We will be shipping this chap off on loan to Israel, Turkey and Cyprus for the next three years.
Bung City.
That lennon self promo reads like a Jackie tyrell article.
Swiss lad from Udinese?
He’s decent, he played primarily as a wing back there but I’d be fairly pleased with his capture, would be capable of filling in on the left side in an emergency too. I don’t think he featured much with Udinese last season?
They sold him to Basel so not sure why he’d be moving again.
Was linked in the Mail today and seems to be a small bit of momentum behind that rumour. Other RB mentioned is Barragan who’s at Betis now. He’s 32 and I’d much prefer Widmer.
Ya he’s decent. Aren’t Basel in CL qualifying too?
Presumably he would only move after they have secured European football?
The writing certainly looks to be on the wall for Sinclair.
He looks to be behind Forrest, Johnston and Morgan now and that’s without considering we have quite a number of options unavailable right now. Certainly looks like he will really struggle for minutes this year if he hangs about.
The EPL transfer deadline closes on the 8th August which is 2 weeks today, I’m unsure if this also extends to the Championship or if they have longer? Either way, if he’s to go out the door then it will need to be in the next two weeks as I really only see bottom half EPL and Championship sides being interested in and meeting his demands.
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Yeah it doesn’t look good for him. Morgan has been better than expected and Johnston looks excellent. And hopefully Shved and Arzani will be options too. Sinclair is our best goal threat from those wingers (along with Forrest) but not enough else in terms of creativity. I’d imagine we’ll be happy to sell him for 1m+. Otherwise he’ll be a squad option for the year.
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Morgan seemed fairly muck to me when he came on last night. Still think we should be moving on from Sinclair though.
Bolingoli went off with nausea. He’s been a bit questionable in his admittedly brief displays so far.
I’ve already seen some Jullien = Compper rumours floating around. Seems odd that Lennon didn’t start him last night to get him up to speed ahead of tougher rounds.
Apparently his agent was at Celtic Park last night.