He’s been fantastic- Ange responds to winger transfer tales

Ange Postecoglou has insisted that Liel Abada isn’t unhappy with life at Celtic.

For the first time in 30 SPFL matches the winger won’t be involved in today’s match at Ross County, returning injured from international duty.

Abada has started 10 and came off the bench 19 times in the SPFL which seems to have been the source of reported unhappiness coming from Israel, alongside the prospect of a nice slice from any future transfer fee.

The then teenage winger was the first top team signing made by Postecoglou, making an instant impact with a scoring debut against Midtjylland and a string of important goal in his debut season including a last gasp winner against Dundee United last January and a habit for netting in the Glasgow derby.

Postecoglou demonstrated with Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis that he isn’t afraid to sell first team regulars but speaking to Football Scotland he isn’t preparing to pack off Abada in the summer:

Liel’s very happy here and there’s nothing that’s shown me he wants to go anywhere. He just wants to be the best he can be. He’s working hard to do that and he’s been fantastic since he joined us.

Sometimes other people like to speak for others, but I prefer to speak to the person themselves and get first-hand information.

At the moment Liel’s really happy here. Players have their futures in their own hands. It’s about what they want to do. Some of them are at different stages of their lives and have different ambitions.

I’ve got no problem with that, it’s not about being ruthless or harsh with them. It’s about understanding their needs and what they want to do. That’s fine, we move on and they move on to better things. That’s how I treat every case.

Abada is under contract until 2026, recent history would suggest that he won’t be around to see that out but a transfer to England is probably a year away.