The Hoops brought the highly rated Israeli international defender to Parkhead this summer.
Celtic summer signing Hatem Abd Elhamed has shared what his teammates at Hapoel Be’er Sheva, his previous club before becoming a Bhoy, said to him after he told them he would be joining the Parkhead outfit (official website).
The 28-year-old defender, who played for Be’er Sheva for two years, joined the Hoops in late July for a reported £1.6million fee (BBC Sport) and penned a four-year deal with the treble Treble holders.
Abd Elhamed joined the Israeli giants the year after they faced Celtic in the 2016-17 Champions League qualifying playoff round, the Bhoys running out 5-2 winners in Glasgow but having to hold on in the second leg after going two goals down before the 50-minute mark (BBC Sport).
In the end, Celtic survived the second-half siege and lost 2-0 on the night to ensure progress to the group stage proper by an aggregate scoreline of 5-4, and Abd Elhamed said his now-ex teammates were in awe of the support in the Paradise stands when they played there for the first leg.
“Once my friends at Be’er Sheva heard that I was signing for Celtic, they told me the atmosphere at Celtic Park on European nights is amazing,” Elhamed said in an interview with this week’s Celtic View, published on the official website. “They played here in 2016 in a Champions League qualifier, and they said that they were shaking in the first 20 minutes.”
Celtic get their quest for consecutive Scottish Premiership title number nine under way on Saturday when they host St Johnstone at Parkhead, while their European adventure continues next week and the one after when they face Romanian side CFR Cluj in qualifying round three.
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