ST JOHNSTONE striker Guy Melamhed has revealed that Celtic duo Hatem Abd Elhamed and Nir Bitton convinced him to sign for the Premiership side. The Israeli striker joined Tommy Wright’s Perth side on deadline day and when speaking to The Courier, the attacker admitted that he sought counsel from the Celtic defenders.
“I didn’t know anything about St Johnstone until I looked on the website and saw they had finished sixth last season.
“But I knew about Scotland from Nir and Elhamed and Ofir.
“Israel is a small country so everyone knows each other. I spoke to them and they all said it was a very good league.
“Nir has been here a long time and he has been very successful at Celtic. He can be proud of himself.
“I see he has had the Covid and I hope he is well soon.
“When I agreed to sign here I just wanted to get to Scotland quickly, even though I knew I would have to quarantine because of the virus.”
Elhamed and Bitton are currently missing for Celtic after testing positive for COVID-19; however, they are both recovering and should be back with Celtic next week.
It is good to see that the pair speak highly of life in Scotland and are able to convince their fellow pro’s to come to the league. Although it will be up to the pair to stop Melamhed from scoring when the sides meet at the beginning of December.
The Israeli was signed as a midfielder by Neil Lennon back in 2013 and has played with some incredible players in his seven years with the Scottish Champions, as Celtic have dominated. Bitton is now a centre defender after Brendan Rodgers opted to move him into defence. Elhamed meanwhile signed last season and has had a successful, albeit injury prone beginning to life in Glasgow.
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