Benfica ‘interested’ in Celtic’s Liel Abada

Add as preferred source on Google

The Liel Abada transfer interest over the last couple of days has taken a little twist.

After Sky Sports revealed that Ajax allegedly has eyes on the Israeli winger, journalist Nicolo Schira has claimed that Benfica are also interested in the 21-year-old.

Abada has been a huge hit at Celtic since joining from Maccabi Petah Tikva back 2021.

In 95 appearances for Celtic he has scored 27 goals and created 18 assists with some huge goals over Rangers in his first season helping Celtic overcome their rivals to the SPFL title.

Abada has been out the Celtic squad for the last four weeks after suffering from a thigh injury whilst on international duty and, as yet, there is no timeline set to when he will be available for selection.

His last appearance was against Hibs where the winger came on as a second-half substitute in the 3-1 home win against the Edinburgh side.

Should Celtic sell Abada in the summer?

With the amount of quality we have in the wide areas, we could let Abada go and not weaken the first team.

Sead Hakasabanovic has proven himself to be a very handy player to bring on and even though the 23-year-old minutes have been limited to coming off the bench, he still has five goals to his name.

The emergence of Rocco Vata from the B team also gives Ange Postecoglou different options.

Should Abada be offloaded in the summer, Vata would likely be permanently promoted from the youths to the Celtic first-team squad next season.

There is also the opportunity to reinvest the hefty fee Celtic are likely to receive for the Israeli and looking at Ange Postecoglou’s track record in the transfer market, you just know he is likely to find similar or better quality that Abada gives.