After months of speculation about a transfer Liel Abada appears to be keen on staying on at Celtic.
Two years into a five year contract the winger and his agents will have noted the recent contract extensions given to Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi.
Signed as a teenager from Israel, Abada won’t be close to the highest earners at the club but over two seasons he has made a huge impact with brilliant record for scoring and assists including a goal in the Scottish Cup Final which turned out to be the farewell for Jota and Ange Postecoglou.
With Maeda being restyled as a striker under Brendan Rodgers it seems that Abada is now Celtic’s first choice winger.
ABADA STAYING AT CELTIC ??? pic.twitter.com/P3ofR3H4zl
— ????CELTIC FC RUMOURS???? (@rumours_celtic) July 23, 2023
So far in two matches in Japan Abada has looked to be in outstanding form, a more prominent role under Rodgers, the prospect of Champions League football and perhaps not quite the calibre of clubs interested in him seem to have encouraged the winger into a further commitment to Celtic.
Asked about Abada, Rodgers told the Daily Record:
We had a nice conversation, a really open conversation, when I came in. He sat in the office and I just wanted to know what his ambitions were and what he wanted to achieve.
He is very keen and he really wants to be here to improve but he also understands there needs to be competition when you are at a top club. That pushes you.
Overall I like his game when I was watching from afar. I like his runs and he has a real killer instinct in front of goal.
You don’t get that many goals unless you want to score – which I love. There are other areas we can look at to help him get to another level.
Without spelling out the need for a new contract there is enough in those comments to think that the manager already has a rapport with Abada. Had the winger been angling for a move it is unlikely that detail of the conversation would have surfaced.
Abada, Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley are all in similar situations in that they have outperformed expectations but aren’t yet halfway through long term contracts.
Back to printing lies about what Hatate says and making up fake feuds with Postecoglou and O ‘ Riley for the digital reporters then ?
How anyone can see a striker I’m Maeda baffles me. He can’t keep a cool head in front of goal and can’t hit a barn door. He already misses about 70% of his open goal chances, and about 30% of the goals he did score hit off him.
I wait with hope to be proved wrong.