The Israel midfielder bid farewell to his Maccabi Haifa teammates.
By ALLON SINAImaccabi haifa soccer 311(photo credit: Roi Levy)
Biram Kiyal bid farewell to his Maccabi Haifa teammates on Sunday ahead of his expected transfer to Scottish giant Celtic.The 22-year-old Israel midfielder, who has spent his entire career to date as a professional at Haifa, told his teammates that he will never forget his four years with the club and spoke excitedly about his move to Glasgow.Kiyal could fly to Scotland as early as Monday to undergo a medical, with Haifa and Celtic having already agreed on a transfer fee in the vicinity of two million euros.“I’m excited about moving to such a big club,” Kiyal told his teammates.Celtic manager Neil Lennon is confident the transfer will be completed shortly.“As far as I’m aware the signing of Kiyal is on the verge of being done,” he said. “I’m pleased with the progress we’re making in terms of transfers and we’re still looking at strengthening more positions.”Celtic, which has struggled in the past couple of seasons, failing to win the Scottish Premier League or Cup, faces Portugal’s S.C. Braga in the third qualifying round of the Champions League on Wednesday.Meanwhile, Ben Sahar completed his loan-move from Espanyol to Hapoel Tel Aviv on Sunday and will be available for Wednesday’s Champions League third qualifying round first leg against FK Aktobe in Kazakhstan.Hapoel will pay around 100,000 euros for the one-year loan of the 20-year-old Israel international, while also receiving 10 percent of any future sale of the striker.“I hope I have a good year at Hapoel and then return to Europe,” said Sahar, who despite not turning 21 until next month will be playing for the seventh club of his career.“I’m motivated to show what I’m worth and I’m happy this move worked out. I grew up at Hapoel from the age of nine and I’m happy to be here. Hapoel has an excellent team and I hope we can qualify for the Champions League group stage.”
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