Neil Lennon defends Celtic’s business in Israel

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Celtic manager Neil Lennon has defended Israeli football and claimed that it’s a good source for transfer talent.

The club is close to completing a deal for Hapoel Be’er Sheva defender Hatem Abd Elhamed. If the deal does go ahead, which Lennon fully expects it to (Celtic TV), then it will hardly be Celtic’s first dip into the Israel market.

The player’s agent is apparently Dudu Dahan (Transfermarkt), the Israeli super-agent who has brokered several deals with Celtic in the past, particularly under Lennon. The Hoops have signed clients from him such as Beram Kayal, Efe Ambrose, and Nir Bitton respectively.

And, speaking on Celtic TV at his presser, Lennon was quick to defend the quality of his Israeli signings.

“We’ve done well with Israeli players over the years. You think of Kayal, Bitton, Ambrose, who came from Ashdod. I got a good goalkeeper into Hibs in Marciano who’s done very well.

“It’s been a decent market for us, and we hope Hatem will add to that. I think sometimes you have to go and find different markets, because as we can see, some of the other markets are overinflated.”

Do some give Israeli football a hard time?

Lennon has a good point here. We have done relatively well in the Israeli market if you break it down. As much as Ambrose became a bit of a polarising figure towards the end of his Celtic tenure, he still put in some magnificent performances in Europe. He was a key part of our last-16 Champions League run. And even though he’s Nigerian, Celtic plucked him from Israel.

Meanwhile, Kayal was a terrific player. His aggression and energy was a key part of what made Lennon’s first Celtic side so eye-pleasing. He developed over time in Glasgow, and the only sad thing was that we didn’t get to see more of him.

Bitton, meanwhile, signed for the club back in 2013 and has proved a reliable squad player ever since. He’s had his ups and downs, but nobody can say that, over the course of his 183 Celtic appearances, he hasn’t proved a worthwhile signing.

Not much from Israel to have a go at

There was, of course, the forgetful Rami Gershon signing under Lennon towards the end of his tenure. But, outside of the former centre-back, Celtic haven’t particularly signed bad quality from Israeli footballers. Gershon was also actually signed on loan from Standard Liege, but was part of Dahan’s clientele and came from Israel.

The only worrying stat is that Elhamed only has one cap for the Israeli national team at 28 years of age. If he’s so highly-rated, you have to wonder why opportunities in such an under-achieving national side have been hard to come by.

But it’s important to stay positive. So long as Lennon is the manager, you can expect Israel to be a consistent marker. And, in fairness to the manager, it’s also one he has a track-record of success in.