Celtic are allegedly close to sealing two deals ahead of next weeks Champions League Second Qualifying Round tie versus Nomme Kalju.

According to Sun Sport, Celtic have handed a trial to former Leicester right-back Danny Simpson. The 32-year-old is a free agent after leaving Brendan Rodgers’ side in June and is looking for a move back into the game.

With experience in the Premier League, and one winners medal more than a certain former Liverpool captain’s collection of nil, Simpson could be a canny signing. With 213 games in the EPL & a regular in the fairytale season when Leicester won it,  Lennon could add the experience vacated by Lustig & Boyata and add some stability down the right side of defence, should the trial be fruitful.

Elsewhere, Israeli media site Sports Rabbi (Josh Halickman) has reported that Celtic have sealed a deal with Hapoel Be’er Sheva for Israeli international, Hatem Abd Elhammed for around £2m.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Celtic will pay Beer Sheva close to 2 million Euro for Elhamed with a 300k bonus should Celtic advance to the group stages of the Champions League.</p>&mdash; Israel Sports Rabbi (@thesportsrabbi) <a href=”https://twitter.com/thesportsrabbi/status/1151611090108915712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

The 28-year-old can operate as a right-back or a centre-back, giving Neil Lennon some use as a defensive utility player. The lofty defender made his International debut in June 2019 replacing Celtic’s Nir Bitton in a Euro 2020 qualifying defeat to Poland.