Celtic would only have to pay £800,000 to sign scouted Israeli midfielder Mohammed Abu Fani, The Daily Record reports. As we discussed yesterday, Israeli media have reported that Celtic have scouts in place at Israel’s June internationals to watch the Maccabi Haifa stand-out play alongside Liel Abada. Now, The Record has stated that he would be available for less than £1m if Celtic were indeed keen on adding him to Ange Postecoglou’s squad.

That’s a big if, of course, but we know that the manager wants to bolster his midfield options and Abu Fani has the profile of a player who could potentially make a step up. The 24-year-old is a two-time title winner with his club over the last two seasons and looks set to earn a move to a bigger league in Europe following his midfield performances.

Celtic know the Israeli market well having signed multiple players from its top-flight over the last decade. The club will understand Abu Fani’s displays in the context of the competition he’s up against. It couldn’t hurt that he’d be a potentially close ally of Abada either, especially since he’s just said goodbye to his friend and mentor Nir Bitton.
Celtic don’t sign players on that kind of sentiment of course and I’m sure we’ll have been watching many midfielders across Europe, and indeed the world, over the last 12 months. As we’ve seen under Postecoglou, it’s not necessarily the cost of players that determines how effective they would be in the Bhoys line-up. At a bargain price, Abu Fani will be tempting if Celtic scouts provide positive reports.
Signing the player would be a huge bargain for Celtic and reports are claiming that they are working steadily to get the deal over the line as early as this summer in preparation for the next Scottish Championship season.