Celtic played a blinder over "wonderful" Hoops gem whose value rose 181% in 2021 - opinion

Celtic’s appointment at Parkhead of Ange Postecoglou has been an inspired one for the Bhoys since he arrived before the start of the 2021/22 campaign.

The former Australian national team head coach has already won a domestic honour with Celtic and the Hoops are currently top of the league table after 31 matches.

He has also guided the team through to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and this means that he is in with a shot of sealing the domestic treble.

Part of his success so far has been down to how he has handled his players and one gem he has played a blinder with is Liel Abada.

He brought the 20-year-old to the club from Maccabi Petah Tikva as his third signing and the winger has been brilliant in green and white. Abada was valued by Transfermarkt at £1.44m at the start of 2021 and rose to £2.7m in May, just before his move to Scotland.

Postecoglou spotted a player on his way up and has been able to get the best out of him this season to make the most of his development.

In the Premiership this term, the winger has produced nine goals and six assists in 23 starts whilst averaging an impressive SofaScore rating of 7.08. He has created an incredible 13 ‘big chances’ and this suggests that he has been let down by his teammates as he only has six assists to show for his superb playmaking.

Ex-Hoops player Frank McAvennie showered the winger with praise earlier this season, telling Football Insider: “He looks a wonderful player and when he first arrived he wanted everything. There was an early game where he took the ball off Edouard for a penalty and Edouard just went ‘no, that’s mine’.

“That was brilliant and it’s what you want to see from a young player. You can’t buy that desire and hunger. He probably didn’t expect