Celtic in talks over four-year deal to signal £10m star

The grass is not all the time greener away from Parkhead, simply ask those that have left Celtic for marquee charges in recent times.

A 12 months on from leaving for Italy for a charge of round £16.5m, the phrase is that Nicolas Kuhn is already surplus to necessities at Como, whereas Kyogo Furuhashi has scored simply three objectives in 18 months for Rennes and Birmingham Metropolis following his £10m sale.

As for Matt O’Riley, the Denmark worldwide was shipped out on mortgage to Marseille final season from mum or dad membership Brighton, whereas fellow £25m man Kieran Tierney made his return final summer season after an injury-hit time at Arsenal.

After which there’s Jota, with the Portuguese additionally discovering his means again to Glasgow after troublesome spells in each Saudi Arabia and France. Sadly, nevertheless, it hasn’t been a cheerful homecoming.

What O’Neill has mentioned about Jota’s health woes

Jota, signed initially on mortgage in the summertime of 2021, was such a delight to look at in his first Celtic spell, an actual field of methods on both flank, so influential in Ange Postecoglou’s relentless Hoops aspect.

Frustratingly, that dazzling high quality simply hasn’t been seen since his return in January 2025, even with the ex-Benfica man scoring 5 occasions within the tail finish of that season.

Subsequently knocked again after struggling a cruciate ligament harm only a matter of months on from his Parkhead return, Jota’s scenario actually is not promising, having already missed the whole thing of 2025/26.

A forgotten man considerably, the winger’s return to motion looks like a good distance off proper now, not least after Martin O’Neill‘s slightly blunt evaluation of the scenario this week.

Out of sight, out of thoughts, seems to be O’Neill’s method with regard to the 27-year-old, with the precedence now to make sure that the ahead line is strengthened with assertion strikes this summer season.

Celtic lining up contract provide to signal the following Jota at Parkhead

After a muted begin to the window, issues are clicking into gear in Glasgow, with Camilo Duran already within the constructing, whereas O’Neill is eager on a return for cult hero, Kelechi Iheanacho.

It does seem that the 74-year-old is especially intent on securing attacking reinforcements, amid the continuing uncertainty surrounding Daizen Maeda’s future at Paradise.

With that in thoughts, there was an encouraging replace from Spanish journalist Christian Vaquero, the switch insider revealing on X that Celtic stay in talks with Haissem Hassan relating to a possible four-year deal for the Egyptian.

The suggestion is that O’Neill and co are getting ready a bid of round €8m (£7m) for the Actual Oviedo star, and whereas the Spanish aspect are insisting on one thing nearer to €12m (£10m), they’re prepared to barter.

It would seemingly take a sizeable charge for Celtic to get the 24-year-old within the door, but Hassan seems like an actual celebrity within the making, having sparkled in his World Cup cameos in current weeks.

Towards Argentina, as an example, the in-demand winger was electrical because the North African nation cruelly fell to a 3-2 defeat, notably supplying the help for Zico to make it 2-0 on the evening.

That had come after Hassan had beforehand performed a key function in Zico’s controversially disallowed strike, the left-footer weaving his means by way of a sea of Argentine defenders down the suitable flank, within the lead-up to his teammate’s effort.

That innate mix of tempo and trickery actually evokes reminiscences of Jota in his Celtic pomp, the kind of participant who can beat a person at will with a second of magic or ability.

In LaLiga final season for Oviedo, Hassan notably averaged a stellar 1.6 profitable dribbles per sport for the relegated aspect, having been an actual shining gentle in his favoured right-wing berth.

For comparability, throughout 2021/22 and 2022/23, Jota loved an identical common of 1.7 and 1.5, respectively, below Postecoglou’s watch, the Portuguese having been the true game-changer at his finest.

The Glasgow giants had gambled considerably on Jota on the time, contemplating he’d solely made 34 appearances for Benfica and 18 on mortgage at Actual Valladolid, scoring solely 4 objectives in complete.

By 2023, he was being offered on for a club-record charge, the proper instance of what Celtic’s recruitment ought to appear to be.

In Hassan’s case, his personal exploits aren’t precisely stellar on paper, with simply six objectives and 4 assists in 82 video games at Oviedo, after prior stints elsewhere in Spain, but scratch beneath the floor, and there seems like a participant simply ready to blow up.

Hopefully, like Jota earlier than him, that rise will happen at Parkhead.