What a start to life in a Celtic jersey Liel Abada made last season. The youngster was Ange Postecoglou’s first signing and broke onto the scene with a goal against FC Mitdylland of Denmark in Chamions League qualifying last year at Celtic Park. After that, the winger never really looked back.

Amassing 15 goals and 11 assists in a somewhat purple patch of a campaign for the small Israeli, his former Chairman at Maccabi Petah Tikva, Avi Luzon, has already dubbed the budding talent a £17 million player in today’s market. In an interview with ONE in his homeland, Abada’s former employer raved about the 20-year-old and compared him with another massive Israeli star – and Scotland persecuter – Manor Solomon.

In the report via Record Sport, Luzon said: “When I said that Manor is worth €20million (£17m) people laughed. I was wrong, he is already worth €40million today (£34m). Liel’s worth today is much more than what he was sold for. €20million (£18m). I am sure that they will continue to show their good ability and lead the Israeli national team to a major tournament.

“I love them. I always knew that their place was in the lineup of the senior national team and in the future their place is guaranteed in the lineup. I enjoy seeing them, I feel very proud.”

After such an auspicious beginning in Glasgow under Ange Postecoglou, it is not hard to see why Avi Luzon has given him such a flattering price-tag and favourable review. Abada scooped the PFA Scotland Award for Young Player of the Year, such was his blistering past year in the green and white hoops.

Whilst Celtic snared the diminutive forward for a meagre £3.5 million, it’s obvious we now have a player worth four or five times that, with the scope to develop his game immeasurably in the coming years. Although rated very highly and no doubt worth a considerable amount more than what we paid for him, the fans would definitely like to see Liel stick around long enough to become a legend.

Paul Gillespie

As it’s Father’s Day this Sunday we have a special offer with this high quality, limited edition Harry Hood Twice as Good t-shirt coming free of charge with your book order. These t-shirts are a limited edition and will not be sold separately, the only way to get one is when you order Twice as Good from Celtic Star Books.

Please tell us your t-shirt size in the Notes section when ordering…link below.  All orders placed today will be posted on Tuesday morning and will reach you on Thursday, well ahead of Father’s Day next Sunday.

ORDER HARRY HOOD – TWICE AS GOOD HERE AND DON’T FORGET TO TELL US YOUR T-SHIRT SIZE…Remember it’s Father’s Day on Sunday 19 June! Order today and we’ll post first thing Tuesday morning. Click on image below to order…