Celtic are ‘back in the hunt’ for Omar Elabdellaoui this summer, The Scottish Daily Mail report (17/08 print edition, back page).
The paper say that the right-back is at the top of the Hoops’ list of candidates to provide competition for Hatem Abd Elhamed. That’s despite being put off by the player’s £35,000-a-week wages back in January.
The report from journalist Stephen McGowan states that the Olympiacos defender is available for a fee of around £4m. Encouragingly, it’s said the player is willing to make a pay cut to return to British football.
The 27-year-old was a youth prospect at Manchester City, having also spent time on loan at Hull City.
How badly do we need a right-back?
Hatem Abd Elhamed looks like a solid choice on the right flank so far. However, across a long season he does need competition and back-up. Anthony Ralston doesn’t appear to be of the standard required and there’s no other natural choice to fit in.
Kristoffer Ajer has performed well in the position but specialism is always better.
More important than signing a right-back though is signing a quality right-back.
Adding numbers to the squad at this stage isn’t good enough for Celtic. We need serious players with good ambition. We need a player ready to hit the ground running in the first-team.
Would Elabdellaoui be a good signing?
The player has won three league titles with Olympiacos, as well as a national cup. That gives him the kind of trophy pedigree that would be useful to the Hoops in a potentially tight title race.
He’s an international teammate of both Kristoffer Ajer and left-back target Birger Meling (The Herald). In total he’s won 38 caps with Norway.
Having made 35 appearances in UEFA competitions throughout his career, he also has the kind of European experience we need.
Recently he’s helped his team navigate two rounds of UEFA Champions League qualifying. Olympiacos have seen off Viktoria Plzen and Basaksehir, with Elabdellaoui helping them keep clean sheets in all four matches.
The right-back certainly appears to have the kind of profile we should be looking at in the final two weeks of the transfer window.
If he’s available, hopefully we move quickly to secure his future.
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