-
News
- 29 minutes ago
The REAL reason why Celtic pulled out of controversial wonderkid deal revealed
Tom Weber
- Updated: 13 Jan 2026 17:55 GMT
- 6 min read
News
Celtic's decision to cancel the signing of Maccabi Netanya winger Jocelin Ta Bi may not have been informed by fitness reasons after all.
The 20-year-old looked poised to complete a move to Celtic Park when it emerged last week that the Hoops had managed to agree a deal with Israeli side Netanya.
In the wake of the agreement, Ta Bi publicly expressed his excitement at joining Celtic, describing it as a "dream come true." However, on Monday, news broke that the deal had been thrown into doubt.
Ostensibly, the reason for this were unsatisfactory results from his medical. Ta Bi, it was claimed, is injured and requires surgery, which would naturally sideline him for some time.
As a result, Celtic began exploring potential alternatives. Talks were opened with Red Bull Bragantino over winger Ignacio Laquintana and Lorient over striker Mohamed Bamba.
Ta Bi set to join Sunderland instead?
Foot Mercato has now produced an interesting report on Ta Bi that indicates that Celtic's cancellation of his signing may not have been motivated by the results of his medical after all.
The French outlet claims that Celtic's decision to pull the plug on the deal has allowed Sunderland to snap up the Ivorian winger instead. The Black Cats are in the process of finalising his acquisition.
Although the report states that Celtic's medical staff travelled to Israel to examine Ta Bi, there is no mention of him failing his medical or requiring surgery. In fact, if he were to be unavailable for the foreseeable future, Sunderland surely wouldn't be trying to sign him right now.
This suggests that Celtic may simply have got cold feet because of the controversy the news of this impending move sparked. The Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions movement publicly called on the Hoops to cancel the deal because "Israeli clubs are not neutral sporting bodies."
The statement pointed out that "Netanya is owned by Aliya Capital Partners, which has invested $30 million in Israeli drone company XTEND" and insisted that Celtic, whose fans have "been a source of inspiration for Palestinians," ought not to do business with Israeli clubs.
Football transfer news headlines today
EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal outline plan to sign Marc Guehi
TRANSFER RUMOURS: Man Utd stunned as €100m star makes surprise decision
DONE DEALS: Every official completed transfer around Europe today
Chelsea 'expected' to complete wonderkid transfer
The FootballTransfers app
Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.
The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:
