Hatem Abd Elhamed expected to leave Celtic soon despite agent's statement

By John McGinley

January 23, 2021

Celtic defender Hatem Abd Elhamed is expected to leave the club soon, The Daily Mail has reported on Saturday (23/01 print edition, back page).

Journalist Stephen McGowan provides the update in an article about Celtic cashing in on Jack Hendry.

It’s said the Israeli will return to his homeland soon.

With Christopher Jullien out injured and Shane Duffy struggling, the situation leaves Celtic needing to sign a centre-back this January.

This comes despite a statement from scout Dudu Dahan, who wrote last month: “Recently a lot of debunked and wrong news has been published about the Israel and Celtic player Hatem Elhamed. The only right thing is that Hatem is proud to belong to a club the size of Celtic.

“After everything he’s been through in his career Hatem is not one to give up so fast. He is more determined than ever to do everything to fight for his place.”

Elhamed hasn’t started a match since then but did come on as a substitute against Rangers just a couple of days later.

Hatem Abd Elhamed Celtic exit still feels likely

The smart money would be on him leaving Celtic sooner rather than later.

He’s only started nine games this season, and he’s looked far from convincing, making some high profile errors.

Reliable but with injury problems throughout 2019/20, this term he’s just looked well short of the standard required. As have others, to be fair to him.

Celtic star Hatem Abd Elhamed / (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Still, if Celtic are to progress and improve the squad’s quality, then moving Elhamed on would be a smart move.

We could use his wage more efficiently, and any transfer fee could be put to good use.

In other news, this is what Bournemouth fans are saying about Eddie Howe to Celtic.