An international friendly played on the day that the World Cup begins won’t usually attract too much attention but a goal from Oscar Gloukh for Israel falls into a different category.
The young midfielder helped Israel to the final of the u-19 European Championships in the summer and appears to be handling the step up to the senior game with ease. Last night he scored is first goal for the senior Israeli side, becoming the third youngest scorer for his national team.
Macabi Tel Aviv tied the 18-year-old onto a contract that runs until May 2025 but that is mainly to protect their asset rather than a longer term plan for his development. This season he has played in 12 Israeli league matches and four Europa Conference League qualifiers.
After making his full international debut in midweek against Zambia, Gloukh scored for Israel in their 3-2 defeat from Cyprus last night.
At the age of 18 years and 233 days, Oscar Gloukh ??(2004) has just become the 3rd youngest goalscorer in the history of the Israeli National Team!!!pic.twitter.com/MFdu6smx1d
— Football Report ?????? VAMOS?? #BerhalterOut (@FootballReprt) November 20, 2022
On September 17 the Daily Record reported:
Ange Postecoglou has a list of January transfer targets in case any of Celtic’s World Cup stars are snared from Parkhead. And Record Sport understands one player on his radar is Israeli wonder kid Oscar Gloukh.
Dating back to Beram Kayal, Nir Bitton and Efe Ambrose Celtic have a long record of signing players from the Israeli league.
Liel Abada was the most recent signing and presents Gloukh with the perfect template of how moving to Glasgow can accelerate development.
Normally 18-year-old’s fall into the ‘project category’ but with outgoing movement expected in Ange Postecoglou the Macabi teenager looks ready to move straight into the Celtic first team squad.