CELTIC STAR ON MOVE NEXT MONTH

HATEM ABD ELHAMED is odds-on to rejoin Hapoel Be’er Sheva next month.

The Israel international defender has failed to consistently convince after his £1.2million switch to Celtic in the summer of 2019 and his former club will offer him an escape route back to his homeland.

Elhamed has grown frustrated with life in Scotland without his family who didn’t settle in the country and is heading for the Parkhead exit, as CQN reported last week.

The 29-year-old right-back or centre-half suffered a serious groin injury in the 2-1 win over Lazio in Rome last November as Neil Lennon introduced Dutch wonderkid Jeremie Frimpong in the No.2 position.

Elhamed was less than impressive in some of the recent Hoops outings with the club winning only two of 12 outings until they overcame Lille in the Europa League Group H encounter last week and Kilmarnock 2-0 in the Premiership yesterday with Kristoffer Ajer switched to the right flank from his central berth.

And a return to his former club is on the cards although Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv are also monitoring his situation.

Be’er Sheva boss Yossi Abukasis, speaking in the Daily Record, said: “Hatem is an excellent player every team would want to sign.

“If we can bring him here to the club it will be a huge blessing for us.
“But, of course, there are some excellent players at the club already and we’ll have to wait and see.

“Our ambition this season is to get a European place again.”

Elhamed, who is under contract until June 2022, has made only 19 starts for the champions since his arrival to take over from Mikael Lustig.