DO you ever get the feeling you are caught in a time warp?
It’s Groundhog Day all over again as far as tales are concerned about Liel Abada and his “anticipated” exit from Celtic.
There’s the usual explosion of headlines informing us the Israeli winger is on the brink of quitting the champions with the English Premier League his likely destination.
CONGRATULATIONS…Liel Abada and Matt O’Riley are greeted by boss Ange Postecoglou following their performances in the Viaplay League Cup Final triumph last month.
The claims are coming from an individual by the name of Avi Luzon, the player’s club president at ex-team Maccabi Petah Tikva who sold the international to the Hoops for £3.5million in July 2021.
The club supremo has told the local media that 21-year-old Abada has refused to commit his future to the Parkhead club and it is now “90 per cent” probable he will leave at the end of the season.
We have no idea how Avi reaches that percentage, but someone in his homeland should remind him that his former player has signed a deal that may – or may not – keep the touchline ace in Glasgow until July 2026.
Note to Avi: CQN reported the contract situation in November 1 2022.
The Israeli official seems inordinately interested in Abada who left his club TWENTY months ago for a new career in a different country. Couldn’t have something to do with a possible sell-on in the player’s contract, could it?
SILVERWARE CELT…Liel Abada savours that Cup-winning feeling at Hampden.
He informed us Abada was worth £17million after scoring 15 goals and adding 11 assists in his debut season at Postecoglou’s side, as CQN reported in June LAST YEAR.
Annoyingly, Avi continues to pop up with “inside” stories informing everyone about Abada’s next step.
It’s as preposterous as Postecoglou making revealing comments about Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis or even Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie.
Naturally, the Greek-Australian gaffer has too much integrity to even think about such things. There is also the certainty he will be concentrating on his current staff and not those who have moved on to pastures new.
But loudmouth Luzon continues to chirrup away and his latest offering, as reported in Israeli media outlet One Sport, informs us: “I believe he will be sold in the summer to the Premier League. There were talks already in the last window, but he didn’t want to be sold.
UP AND OVER…Liel Abada hurdles a slide tackle from Borna Barisic on Celtic’s way to their Viaplay League Cup success last month.
“They offered him a contract extension and I know he didn’t agree, because he wants to be sold. I don’t know the names of teams, but there are offers and I believe at a probability level of over 90% that he will move to the Premier League in the summer.
“I hope that he will continue to score goals until the end of the season and then he will be sold for sure.”
Maybe in the coming days Avi will give us his predictions for Ange’s first-team line-up when the league resumes against Ross County in Dingwall a week on Sunday.
Perhaps he might also consider putting a sock in it and allow the Celtic manager and his players to concentrate on what is before them at a crucial stage of the campaign with a treble up for grabs.
