Hatem Abd Elhamed talks about his competition with Frimpong

Hatem Abd Elhamed has opened up about his competition with Jeremie Frimpong, his injury troubles last season and Champions League hopes for this season.

It’s going to be a long hard season for Celtic. It was already going to be busy and testing with a relentless flow of games before the Bolingoli initiated postponements. To get through successfully Neil Lennon will need his full squad. So getting a fresh face into the defence who can help support some different formations and provide attacking options is great news.

Hatem Elhamed has been talking with the Sunday Post about how delighted he is to be back playing at Celtic and offering tactical options for the team. He made his first start in 10 months for the hoops against KR Reykjavik during the week. Injury and the football shutdown restricted his chances after an excellent start to last season. And in his absence Jeremie Frimpong took his chance and stormed into the first team, hitting headlines all the way.

Elhamed talks about how it felt to be missing out on playing action. Injured against Lazio at home he was out of the picture until returning to the team in the last pre lockdown match, a 5-0 win over St Mirren in March with a Leigh Griffiths hat trick:

"“It was very strange for me because I’d never had such a long time out without being able to play football.“I just tried to focus on training to get myself fit, and then waiting for my chance to come.“That came with 30 minutes against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park and that was enough to get me ready for the start in the Champions League against Reykjavik.“It was a good feeling for me, and gave me confidence to go again and show my best.”"

He’s also very comfortable with the competition for places at Celtic.:

"“Jeremie is a fantastic player. He’s very young and talented.“I look at the competition as a very positive thing for the players to be at their best.“I want to play, Jeremie wants to play. We both do our best for the club, to help the team to win and we need to be positive and always do our best.”"

Elhamed also sees opportunities for his extra experience and defensive abilities to come into play in European games. Although it wasn’t necessarily a tough opposition being faced we did see Lennon placing his faith and trust in the experienced Israeli international against KR Reykjavik in midweek. It’s highly possible that will be repeated on Wednesday against Ferencvaros in the next Champions League qualifier.

Elhamed is looking forward to playing a part in that qualifying game if selected. He’s also extremely keen to help the club get back into the Group stages of the Champions League if possible:

"“To play on that stage would achieve my biggest dream because it is something I have never done.“It would mean testing yourself against the world’s best players, and would be so exciting.”"

But he isn’t getting ahead of himself and knows it’s a difficult task to qualify. He too remembers the agony of losing against Cluj last season:

"“We were better than Cluj and we got beaten.“It was a big disappointment for all of us, but also a learning experience.”"

Although there is much clamour for Lennon to adopt a return to a 3-5-2 formation with two strikers, fans will accept that it may be different in European matches.

Elhamed can provide a solid defensive rock at right back but is also very capability of advancing forward and delivering great balls into the box for the strikers. He can also easily adapt to a 3 at the back formation if needed. What a great asset to have returned to the squad again for selection and the Hoops can also call on the exciting Frimpong as an alternative.