McManus backs Liel Abada to seal ‘big’ Premier League move after Celtic update
Celtic star Liel Abada will seal a “big” move to the Premier League in the future.
That’s according to former Hibernian striker Tam McManus, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the winger’s future.
Abada, 21, has been in fine form for Celtic this season, scoring nine goals and registering four assists in 27 total outings.
On 22 December, Football Scotland reported the hoops are set to open contract talks with the winger amid interest from Premier League side Southampton.
His current terms run until the summer of 2026.
When asked if Abada is deserving of a new deal, McManus told Football Insider‘s Ben Wild, “Yeah, I do.
“He burst onto the scene last season and scored a lot of goals and got a lot of assists. This season he is still scoring but the assists have dried up a little bit.
“He doesn’t really play every week, Celtic rotate their wingers quite regularly. But at 21, and I have spoken about this before, he can move to a big club down in England.
“If he keeps his numbers up, keeps banging goals in. If you look across the city, Ryan Kent has nowhere near the same number of goals and assists and he is always linked with a move to the Premier League.
“You look at how Abada is performing and it only makes sense to say the same thing, Celtic will be hoping a bigger deal means a bigger fee when Abada does eventually leave.”
On 27 September, sources told this site that the Parkhead club believe Abada will be worth £15million-plus next year.
He has made 80 total appearances for the club.
In other news, expert cites James Forrest with Celtic set to green light multiple exits.