Celtic boss Martin O'Neill knows there is more to come from winger Haissem Hassan, who is still building up his fitness after a late return to action.
Hassan represented Egypt at the World Cup and reached the Round of 16, meaning he did not return to pre-season training with former club Real Oviedo until just before the new season. He then joined Celtic, whose season started even earlier, so he is a long way behind some of his teammates in terms of fitness.
Still, Hassan has started the last couple of games, and there is growing confidence surrounding the Egyptian, who has looked better and better with each performance, looking very dangerous over the weekend, when Celtic beat an organised St Mirren side.
“Hassan, 1v1s, he can beat players all day long or all night long," Celtic boss O'Neill said after the game. "Again, he’s one that needs to get up to speed.
“He did fine in the World Cup, really fine in the World Cup. Not that we judged him in that, but he did fine. Then after the World Cup, I think he took about a seven or eight day holiday and that’s it.
“So he’s been doing a little bit of training on his own, but he’s a handful. He’s definitely a handful. He played a delightful ball just at the start of the second half. He needs to get up to speed. He needs to obviously do a bit more work going backwards like everything else. But yeah, great.”
Hassan was one of Celtic's statement signings this summer, joining for £6million plus £3million in add-ons, and some of those add-ons have already dropped off without being activated due to the Hoops failing to qualify for the Champions League.
The Hoops are understandably getting excited about the winger's future at the club, given he already looks as though he can beat Premiership defenders for fun. It will be interesting to see how he does in the Europa League, which will naturally provide some tougher competition for the most part.
It will be interesting to see where he plays, though, especially when Kasper Hogh gets back to fitness. Camilo Duran was previously playing on the right, so does Duran go back there and Hassan is pushed over to the left? Or perhaps Duran can play on the left and Hassan can remain in his favoured position on the right.
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