Liel Abada is Celtic pass king as Israeli wins European prize and Matt O'Riley joins him in VIP club

Liel Abada continues to impress at Celtic and transfer interest is never far away from the Israeli winger.

And while stats in football don't always paint the bigger picture, the young attacker always seems to top important metrics and charts for the Hoops. Abada is also no stranger to being mentioned in the same vein as starlets such as Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala and Real Madrid pair Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham after he was named on UEFA's 40 players to watch out for in Europe list alongside the big stars. The result has been transfer interest in the 21-year-old with Brendan Rodgers keen to hold on to the youngster but the likes of Sporting Lisbon said to be tracking him.

And Abada has reciprocated his desire to continue on in Glasgow and play Champions League football as Record Sport revealed a sit-down with his new Irish boss resulted in the Israeli expressing his wishes to remain at Parkhead. The winger has now, according to CIES Football, topped a key chart outside of Europe's top five leagues and is joined by Celtic team-mate Matt O'Riley in the top 10.

Abada is the number one man in most key passes leading to scoring opportunities for Under 23 stars. He sees off the likes of Yann Gboho of Cercle Brugge who sits at 1.35 while Abada leads on 1.40. Ahead of Danish midfielder O'Riley, who sits at number six on 1.13 on the table, comes highly-rated Atlanta United star Thiago Almada on 1.21, a player that plays alongside former Hoops man Giorgos Giakoumakis in the MLS.

The Israeli managed 13 goals for Ange Postecoglou's side last season in 47 appearances, including a double against rivals Rangers in a 4-0 thumping in September and notched up nine assists. Meanwhile O'Riley struck four times last campaign in 50