Celtic target Ismaila Soro is reportedly expected to carry out his medical for the club in Israel at some stage today.
According to the Scottish Sun. the Bnei Yehuda man is awaiting a work permit before he travels to Scotland. The player was apparently all set to come over during the weekend, but with Soro requiring a visa, it wasn’t possible.
And Celtic appear to be looking to speed up the process by carrying out his medical over in Israel. That should allow the club to announce him quickly should his permit be accepted.
Neil Lennon confirmed on Friday that a deal had been agreed between Celtic and Bnei Yehuda. He claimed back then that it was just about getting the paperwork finalised. That looks like it’s still the case.
The midfielder clearly won’t be here in time for Celtic’s trip to Kilmarnock on Wednesday, but with the games coming thick and fast, he’ll hopefully be able to make his Celtic debut in the near future.
A deal that just needs completed
The Soro transfer has become a bit of a saga. It’s not so much been a “will he? won’t he” type deal, but more a case of “when will he?”.
Hopefully, the sooner we get this one done, the sooner we can get to work on announcing a new centre-back too. Injury problems have made that a priority ahead of the second half of the season. With Kristoffer Ajer, Hatem Abd Elhamed, and Nir Bitton struggling for fitness in recent times, it looks logical to get one more in the door.
Outside of that need for a couple more signings, there isn’t an overwhelming urgency for the Soro deal to conclude before a certain period. When he arrives at the club he’ll likely be behind several in the pecking order.
Of course, what we’re all hoping is that the midfield star provides us with a different dimension. One thing our midfield has lacked in recent weeks is power. Whilst Scott Brown continues to be tenacious and Callum McGregor continues to be energetic, we’re still missing raw strength.
Soro will hopefully show that he can provide that. We’ve never managed to sign another defensive midfielder in the form of a Victor Wanyama since the big Kenyan left. A player with that presence could make a big difference to our engine room.
So the completion of this deal will be a positive move. Hopefully, the apparent medical checks today run smoothly and without cause for concern.
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