Israel international Abd Elhamed is reportedly set to sign for Scottish Premiership champions Celtic from Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Celtic are set to sign Hapoel Be’er Sheva defender Hatem Abd Elhamed on a four-year deal after agreeing a £1.6 million initial fee for the Israeli international, according to the Scottish Sun.
The reigning Premiership champions went into the summer transfer window needing reinforcements both at centre-half and right-back, having bid farewell to Mikael Lustig, Cristian Gamboa, Jeremy Toljan, Dedryck Boyata and Filip Benkovic.
And it seems that Neil Lennon’s side is set to kill two birds with one stone.
Abd Elhamed, who plays alongside Nir Bitton for the Israel national team, is equally comfortable both in the centre or on the flank after all.
The 28-year-old, who made his first appearance for his country in June, even played twice at left-back in 2018/19. So Celtic’s new director of football Nicky Hammond appears to have pulled off another coup after the impressive additions of giant defender Christopher Jullien, wonderkid Luca Connell and the already popular Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo.
The Scottish Sun claims that Abd Elhamed will sign a four-year deal with an option for a further 12 months and he will also earn £7,000 a week.
Celtic initially wanted to pay £1.5 million while Hapoel were demanding £2 million. In the end, both clubs decided to compromise and meet somewhere in the middle.
And the length of his contract should certainly raise eyebrows. If Abd Elhamed lasts for five seasons at Celtic, he will be 33 years old by the time his time at Parkhead comes to an end.
