It seems as if Celtic have been tracking Egyptian World Cup star Haissem Hassan for an age now, but the long wait is surely finally over, as we get set to welcome our third summer signing with the 24 year old reported to have passed his medical with flying colours yesterday…
Reliable sources in Spain suggest that the talented winger passed his medical which was held in London, without any hitches or concerns for the medical team.
“An announcement could be made in the coming hours”
La Nueva Espana reported that after jetting into London yesterday, Hassan has completed and passed his test ahead of signing for Scotland’s most successful club.
The same report says: “The deal appears to be finalised, and an announcement could be made in the coming hours.”
The French born attacker lit up the World Cup, in the round of 16 when he impressed the watching world with his performance against defending champions Argentina.
Plenty of interested in the Real Oviedo winger
Plenty of clubs were interested in the Real Oviedo winger, most notably Marseille and Liverpool, plus unnamed Saudi Arabian clubs, but Celtic were ultra determined to get the player they had been tracking since January.
Now it looks like he’s all but signed, with an official announcement pending hopefully today, after all the club’s in-house media work is carried out.
Fares Ghedjemis was a player Celtic were interested in signing
Celtic have been linked with several right sided wingers over the past few months, most notably Frosinone’s Algerian international Fares Ghedjemis, who was also reportedly and supposedly a target of our Glasgow rivals the Rangers.
Ghedjemis, like Hassan was a player Celtic had been tracking for a while, but Frosinone seem determined to to hang on to their prized asset in wake of their promotion to Serie A, and have now reportedly placed an £18 million price tag on the 23 year old. That rules Celtic out as it’s a fee way beyond our club record.
Hassan was a top target for Martin O’Neill
As much as Celtic had a strong interest in Ghedjemis, it seems that Hassan was always the number one target of Martin O’Neill, and it now looks as if the long pursuit of the player has paid off. Regardless of who was top of the shopping list, Celtic were never going to sign both players and hopefully today Martin will have his third summer signing, all first team starters in a revamped forward line.
Filling the gaps left by Kyogo and Daizen Maeda
This fill the 18 month gap left by the departure of Kyogo and also the significant loss of talisman Daizen Maeda who left the club after four and a half successful years.
Greg Taylor likely to return to Celtic
More work needs to be done in the coming weeks with a goalkeeper, a left back (increasingly likely to be Greg Taylor as we have been saying on Celtic Shorts for quite some time) and a midfielder.
Plus with Alistair Johnston and Arne Engels likely to leave after the UEFA Champions League playoff against Austrian Champions LASK is settled, like-for-like recruits will be required for those two first team regulars.
Today is all about welcoming Haissem Hassan to Celtic
Today though we look forward to welcoming Haissem Hassan to Celtic and hopefully he’ll make his debut at Tannadice at the weekend in the Premier Sports Cup tie against Dundee United.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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