CELTIC are monitoring the progress of £1million-rated Ivory Coast midfielder Ismaila Soro.
The champions had scouts to run the rule over the 21-year-old anchorman in action for Israel side Bnei Yehunda in their 2-1 win over old European foes Hapoel Be’er Sheva at the weekend.
Neil Lennon has the player on his list of potential targets when the transfer window reopens next month, according to media reports.
Soro left the Ivory Coast as a teenager to join Moldovan side Saxan before making a quick switch to Gomel in Belarus in 2017. He joined his current Tel Aviv-based club a year later and has been in outstanding form this season. He is under contract until June 2021.
Neil Lennon and Nicky Hammond, the Hoops’ head of football operations, have links in the region and have been keeping tabs on emerging talent.
The eight-in-a-row champions raided the market in the summer when they paid £1.6million for Hapoel Be’er Sheva’s 28-year-old right-back Hatem Abd Elhamed.
The club also have two Ivorians on their books in midfielder Eboue Kouassi, whose career has stalled at Parkhead after his £3million arrival from Russian outfit Krasnador in January 2017, and striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo who joined just under a year ago in a £2million switch from Slovakian club Dunajska Streda.
