Celtic defender Hatem Abd Elhamed has been winning plaudits for his performance against Scotland in last night’s European Championships play-off.
Israel were ultimately defeated on penalties by Steve Clarke’s side.
However, they dominated much of the fixture and Elhamed was a standout, played as a left wing-back for the visiting team.
That’s an unusual position for him of course, having only featured at centre-half or right-back for Celtic since joining in 2019.
The Bhoys have been searching for competition in the position.
Only Greg Taylor has been available in the early stages of the season and Neil Lennon has even had to utilise right-sided players such as James Forrest on occasion.
Diego Laxalt’s arrival on deadline day has eased that depth concern considerably, but it seems clear Elhamed could do a job for us on the left flank if needed, which is encouraging.
The Lennon signing has excellent versatility and appears to have even more strings to his bow than initially thought.
He may not have been up against world-class opposition in Motherwell’s Stephen O’Donnell but can take encouragement from his performance despite the penalty defeat.
Celtic fans were impressed, taking to Twitter over the last 24 hours to share their thoughts…
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