Selling club honoured as Celtic deal moves closer

Hatem Abd Elhamed’s move to Celtic has been confirmed by Hapoel Be’er Sheva.

The defender can turn out at centre-back or right-back with a £1.6m move strongly trailed in the Israeli media.

Elhamed was left out of the Be’er Sheva side that faced Laci of Albania which will allow him to play in any European qualifiers that Celtic are involved in.

Hapoel owner Alona Barkat told The Sun: “What I have said to Hatem will remain private between us but I am the owner of a proud club that our player is going to play in a great team like Celtic. We are honoured and wish that all of our players fulfil their dreams.”

After the 2-1 home win over FK Sarajevo on Wednesday Neil Lennon spoke of bringing in two new faces for the second round clash with Nomme Kalju.

Celtic have until 11pm on Tuesday to register players for that match but it’s unlikely that any new signing would be thrown straight in with Christopher Jullien left on the bench for both matches against Sarajevo.

The hoops have no more friendly matches arranged with two blank weekends ahead of the games against Nomme before the first domestic match of the season, at home to St Johnstone on August 3.