Celtic made the first significant spend of the Ange Postecoglou and Dom McKay era yesterday by splashing £3.5m on Israeli winger, Liel Abada. The 19-year-old has made 48 career starts and 19 substitute appearances in senior football, all for Maccabi Petah Tikva.
After Liam Shaw (20) and Osaze Urhoghide (21 this month) joined from Sheffield Wednesday for training compensation fees, Abada’s signing is further indication that Celtic are intent on developing a team, rather than attempting to buy finished articles (like the definitely finished Shane Duffy). Two years from now, we should see the benefits of this approach, but as you know, there is a lot of football to be played before then.
What can you tell about a player who has played as few games as Liel, all of them in Israel? Israeli football is not a backwater, it is strong enough to test a teenage talent but the volume written about 48 starts will be a short book. With added travel restrictions, we can be sure he has not been watched often.
We are in familiar territory in signing players after so few appearances. Virgil van Dijk made 63 starts before signing for Celtic. Since then, the window before players with speculative potential reach eye-watering prices has shrunk. If we left Liel another year, we may find his progressed stalled, or that he has moved out our price range. We are going to kiss a lot of frogs when shopping in this sector, which is OK.
I had hoped Leigh Griffiths would remain at Celtic this season and was pleased when he signed a new one-year deal earlier this month – what feels like a long time ago. For me, yesterday’s news that he will not face criminal proceedings does not restore his position as a Celtic player. Better for all that he finds a new club as soon as possible.
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Celtic
Hail, hail and welcome to the new bhoy, one of many to come?
SAINT STIVS on 15TH JULY 2021 12:09 PM
Conversation
St.Anthony
@Stephen4_2
Celtic players en route to Budapest in for 1964 ECWC semi final 2nd leg against MTK. They travelled with 3 goal lead only to lose 4-0. They learned harsh lesson which served them well in Prague three years later.
https://twitter.com/Stephen4_2/status/1407665417783480321/photo/1
Paul67
We need oven ready players as well as not instead of development projects.
Does embdae actually think, that we would pay €1 million over the asking price for a player, who writes that pi$#….
Welcome Abada and hopefully you have a great Celtic career. I take it from the lead article that we are still prepared to continue to buy young projects. Even if it means writing off the seasons until they come to fruition ? We still need to recruit a few quality first team ready starters.
I’ve said it before – balance, not a team of profits.
Griffiths – should have been looking for a new club years ago.
👆👆👆👆That 👆👆👆👆
👌
Cheap shot at Shane.
Though, this site has levelled a lot of criticism at those who wore the Hoops last season.
Oddly, no such thoughts for those in suits or trackies
Whilst a team of profits would be great, I don’t want a team of projects.
Think we have already kissed a lot of frogs and in the process helped the outbreak of gingivitis across the city.
The blogger
This place is full of prophets of doom – hope they’re wrong.
Uncle Jimmy
Agree – cheap shot at Shane
God help the NHS
https://twitter.com/We_OwnIt/status/1415397844794712067
Spending a lot of the budget on a RW? — would suggest that JF will be moving on soon.
More worried that we are losing our one recognised GK talent — memories of SG some 25 odd years ago.
If the experienced half of the team play to their best then we will get past the Danish mob.
Hopefully the frog kissing with the reserves and youths will find out who has the attitude and appetite to make a go of it this season for the first team.
AM looks like he has it.
OU looks like he might have it at RB.
LS looks like he needs a bit more time to settle in.
KD looks like a new man who speaks to the camera rather than staring at his shoes.
DM — where was he hiding last season? — looks like he has something to offer.
L(F)H — why did we punt him to RC last season? — offers something so we better not lose him.
Things are going to be tough but at least we are putting in some effort — on the park and on the sideline.
Huge improvement from last year.
Get shot of griff.and have the hopeless.slug like movement of ajeti up front.i no who I’d rather have any day of the week!!
If SD rocked up today — AP would get a lot more out of him than NL ever did.
He looked like a fish out of water who was spending too much time on his X-box.
Some tactics and coaching would have helped 12 months ago.
Then there was all the stories of the squad splitting into a number of cliques.
No wonder VB / SD / AA looked lost on the park.
Good riddance to NL and SB.
Hopefully things will improve across all aspects of the club.
MM
JF will not be moved
Not by the LA the MJ or the RC
HH
Fred Flinstone-like voice shouting Abada Dabba Doo over the PA system each time the Israeli scores a goal next season.
We signed another winger a couple of years ago Shved, another monumental waste of money, who never had a chance….
BSR @ 12.33
At the moment he is sitting in the stand somewhere so hopefully he will be moved.
He is a player who will benefit from a gameplan / coaching / direction.
Still needs a boot up the erse from time to time.
Huge talent who has still some way to go reach his potential.
The stress fracture episode didn’t help so he is due some luck.
………but as you know, there is a lot of football to be played before then.
As long as it’s………pure, beautiful, inventive football…..or as it is often quoted elsewhere….rip roaring,free scoring, never boring.
I’m all in.
Bit hard on Griff IMO
Needs must for the game on Tuesday.
I’d go with:
Bain (assume Barkas injured.
RB – Ajer (the only decent one we have.
LB – Taylor (most experienced for this game)
CB – Welsh
CB – Bitton (yes Bitton unless we get the Swedish boy in and he can play)
McGregor
Soro
Turnbull
Forrest (if not fit then the Israeli boy)
Ajeti
Edouard (left of Ajeti)
Quite a few promising players on view the past three games but Tuesday is a massive game.
Adi
Jesus said forgive 7 times 70 – he didn’t factor Griff in that.
At the moment, midfield is the only area where we look in decent shape for new season. Some combination of Soro, Calmac, Turnbull and Shaw give us the nucleus of a solid midfield with Forrest, Abada and MJ available as wide options. We can probably assume MJ will play no more than 10-15 games between injuries, so Forrest and/or Abada will play most games.
If Ange can get Rogic and Ntcham back to their best then rotation options are also pretty good.
That just leaves the GK, LB, RB, CHs and CF to be sorted out.
For goalkeeper, it looks like Barkas is staying. Not inspiring whatsoever.
If Ange is happy to have four centre halfs to pick from, then Ugohide, Welsh and Julien (remember him, due back some time this century) and the addition of Carl Starfelt will probably be as good as it gets. Biton there for emergency cover.
Ralston can be no better than second choice for RB so we must assume another RB will be bought. Boli and Taylor at LB, not inspiring anyone. One of them probably needs to go to allow funds for an addition to be made.
CFs. God only knows what options we have but if Griff is punted we need at least two that are not under 21 projects. The sale of Ajer, Edouard and Christie obviously needed if we are to get any kind of quality in.
Tick tock, tick tock.
LG — Where does our responsibility / parenting efforts stop?
He is the Shameless plot that got rejected as being a bit too tasteless for C4.
He is beyond a fag burn on a fur coat levels of hormonal overload.
He is in his thirties.
He is the man he ever will be.
He is us — how much of his language do you hear on CQN / KDS from time to time?
We are littered by people with his attitude but not his spending levels.
He is not unique but he does have a certain level of visibility / publicity.
Stupid “burds” love a footballer — that is the society we have built for ourselves.
It does ask questions regarding our declining birth rate.
We need to keep a hold of him and set him up with a loan deal far away.
We cannot just kick him out the door.
DENIABHOY
” Abada Dabba Doo”
I thought that was a night oot in the Capital of the UAE !
Think Abada might be in line for a game on Tuesday especially now that Mikey Johnston only made it to game two, before getting injured.
Dembele had he not been the victim of a poor challenge ,might have started as well.
Maybe only Edouard from the wantaways will get game time.
We’ll find out soon enough what Abada is like, sounds promising and he should “hit the ground running” Ange thinks, suggesting he’ll be straight into the squad if not the team. . I don’t think JF is going anywhere. We can’t rely on him week in week out and shouldn’t so it’s good to have another winger in that position. Can’t really be compared with Shved as manager apparently had no say in that buy and NL didn’t seem to know what to do with him. Ange wanted Abada because he thought he was good and could fit into his system. Shved may have had attitude problems or was too introverted as was the case originally when he went out on loan. Some players are being spoken about as prospects but I don’t think so – Shaw is 20, he didn’t sign to play for the colts and Uroghide (sp.?) is 21 and I presume is expecting to be playing first team football sooner rather than later. The trick is – actually the skill is – to feed them in without destroying the team cohesion. If everyone is playing the same system then theoretically it shouldn’t be a problem but in reality is not everyone plays in the same system as well as the one he replaced because of injury or need to rest or whatever. Fans will need to be supportive of these young players – confidence is everything. Let’s believe in them and encourage them. Same with some of the not so young one’s like Ajeti and Ncham who are not going anywhere. They are capable, but their confidence will be lacking.
What is the difference between BoJo and LG — private school education / media boosterclub / cod intellectual patter?
One tries it on with / impregnates girls half his age.
The other plays for CFC.
the likes of bitton ,ralston, henderson ,griff and several others all need to move on
ayer has issues , dearie me, thinks he is a defender.
“DENIABHOY on 15TH JULY 2021 12:38 PM
Fred Flinstone-like voice shouting Abada Dabba Doo over the PA system each time the Israeli scores a goal next season.”
:-))))
Its become almost impossible to read or submit a post on here due to COLOURED Screens for the last couple of weeks…and now COLOURED Pictures of FOOD spread across the whole screen.
Offer Hibs Mikey Johnson and Euan Henderso and say £ 1 million in exchange for Nisbet ,Is Liam Henderson still planning in Italy ,should have never been allowed to leave Celtic.
ZIGGYDOC1
I gave up at Bitton.
I actually think the club is dismissing the CL qualifiers.
A couple of seasons of torture in front of us, going by Paul67.
MADMITCH on 15TH JULY 2021 1:16 PM
I don’t think Bojo has ever engaged in conduct that has left him open to being suspected of being a nonce.
Shane Duffy – dud
Peter Lawwell – great guy
Ridiculous