Concrete enquiry made for Celtic defender

Celtic have had an approach for Hatem Abd Elhamed but are unlikely to recoup the £1.6m transfer fee that brought the defender from Israel in July 2019.

With Elhamed wanting to return due to family reasons Celtic are in an awkward position in that there is a very limited market for the player.

A couple of Israeli sides have been credited with an interest in the 29-year-old with the Daily Record reporting the first concrete offer:

Hapeol Be’er Sheva have made an approach to bring unsettled Celtic defender Hatem Elhamed back to his former club in Israel on loan.

The 29-year-old Israeli international revealed earlier this month he and his family have failed to settle in Scotland after signing for Celtic last summer and that alerted four Israeli clubs – Hapeol Be’er Sheva, Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv – to his availability.

Celtic have made clear they want to recoup most of the £1.6million they splashed out to sign him from Be’er Sheva in July last year, but that’s out of the price range of all interested the clubs in his homeland.

The departure of Elhamed would leave Celtic short of options at right-back even though Kris Ajer has performed effectively in that position in recent matches.

Jeremie Frimpong’s instincts are more attack minded than defensive with Anthony Ralston appearing to be miles out of contention for a first team place.

Elhamed is under contract until May 2023, unless a permanent bid comes in it looks like he will go out on loan towards the end of the transfer window.