Celtic winger Liel Abada has insisted that he’s not pondering on a transfer away from the club, as he’s enjoys a slightly unorthodox international break with Israel.
The 20-year-old played against Albania for his senior national side but has also been drafted in for U-21 action next week as the Israel youngsters look to qualify for the U-21 European Championships, which Abada insists is his sole focus at present.
As reported by Israeli site Mako (Translated using Google Translate), he said: “Right now I’m concentrating on the national team, not on the Premier League. We’ll do our best. There’s still a lot of work and the most important thing is to be humble, there are players and coaches who have been through a lot in their careers.”
The winger also commented on his recent Champions League bow against Real Madrid, in which Celtic gained plaudits for their performance but ultimately were bested by the European Champions across the ninety minutes.
Abada said: “There was a crazy atmosphere and I played against great players, but it’s over and we have an important task tomorrow.
“I believe in myself very much, this is the first time I’ve played in the Champions League and I’m learning the high tempo. I believe I’m capable of this. The expectations are on everyone , not just from me. I’m happy to hear that the stadium is full, that was the team’s goal.”
His transfer rebuttal comes off the back of Abada switching agents from Dudu Dahan, who has engineered the moves of several Israel-based Celtic players over the years, to team-mate Josip Juranovic’s agent Hussein Al Gaaod, of FSB.
With plenty speculation about the Croatian’s future during the last transfer window, it’ll be interesting to see if there’s a similar flurry of stories about Abada in the coming weeks and months.
The 20 year old is Celtic’s joint-top scorer so far this season, so interest is natural, but it would hardly be the first time that an agency made an unsolicited attempt to drum up interest and potentially unsettled a player in the process.
Either way, it’s encouraging but not surprising that Abada is making all the right noises about his immediate future and his priorities at hand with a massive couple of months due for Celtic before the World Cup.
In other news: Oliver Abildgaard’s moment could be about to arrive at Celtic
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