Scottish giants Celtic are keeping tabs on Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv midfielder Ismaila Soro and have been scouting him recently, as per The Scottish Sun.
During Bnei Yehuda’s 2-1 win over Israeli giants Hapoel Beer Sheva, Soro was featuring for the club and a Celtic scout was in attendance in the game.
The report claims that Yehuda value the midfielder at £3million and the Hoops are expected to keep monitoring the player in the next few games. He is one of the players that Neil Lennon is looking for the upcoming January transfer window.
Head of Football Operations Nick Hammond has a list of targets from the Israeli league and the club has had major success in the Israeli market, considering their capture of Hatem Abd Elhamed arriving from Beer Sheva.
Do Celtic need to sign Soro?
Yes
No, Lennon needs players in other areas
Impressing in Israel
This is currently Soro’s third season at the club, which he joined from Belarusian club FC Gomel in the summer of 2017. He is a product of the FC Saxan youth academy.
This season, Soro has been a regular in midfield for Yehuda in the Israeli League and also featured regularly for them in the club’s Europa League qualifying rounds. He played four times in the European competition.
In the league, he has played ten times. But he is yet to score or assist even a single time in all competitions.
Last season, the Ivorian appeared 35 times in all competitions. He didn’t score but did rack up one assist during this, but was a regular in the defensive midfield area for the club. In total, he has played 55 times in all competitions for Yehuda.
TIF Tactics
Considering Celtic’s know-how of the Israeli market, they could well be planning something with Soro. The club has been linked with a move for Tottenham’s Victor Wanyama, but their move for the Kenyan has come under doubt due to Jose Mourinho’s presence at Spurs.
Because of that, it is clear that Neil Lennon is looking to sign a defensive midfielder to add another option in that area. The 4-2-3-1 shape predominantly used sees Callum McGregor and Scott Brown start in the double pivot, but the back-ups for Brown are Eboue Kouassi and Nir Bitton- who is a centre-back by trade. Kouassi, on the other hand, has been linked with a Celtic exit.
In that perspective, a move for Soro will make a lot of sense. His cost will be considerably less than Wanyama’s too.