Neil Lennon has confirmed that Hatem Abd Elhamed has been signed as a right-back.
At lunchtime on Wednesday the £1.6m transfer was confirmed with the Celtic twitter account highlighting the ‘Announce Right-back’ which had dogged most of the club’s summer signings.
Elhamed appears to have spent most of the last two seasons playing in central defence for Hapoel Be’er Sheva which didn’t go down well on social media with fans who’ve watched Mikael Lustig, Cristian Gamboa and Jeremly Toljan leave the club since the end of last season.
Before the 5-0 win over Nomme Kalju that question was put to Lennon by Radio Scotland:
BBC: I was reading on twitter about, some people think that he is not an out and out right back. Can you clear that up, is he a direct right back and that’s his position?
LENNON: These people who say he’s not an out and out right back have probably never saw him play before. He started his career as a right back and obviously at times he has played at centre-half. I watched him in the last four or five games of last season, he was playing at right back. He can play both positions very well.
Elhamed will have his fitness assessed by the Celtic medical team today and tomorrow and could be involved in a closed doors friendly with the Manchester City u-23 side on Saturday.
With a 5-0 first leg lead over Nomme Kalju Celtic’s place in the third round is virtually assured with Elhamed available for that stage which could involve a return to Israel to face Maccabi Tel Aviv who lost 1-0 away to Cluj last night.