“The issue as a whole is quite unfortunate. At yesterday’s press conference, Brendan Rodgers praised the 19-year-old player who had come to the team. The Scottish Cup quarterfinal match between Celtic Park and Livingston is set to take place tomorrow.
“A young man who arrived from another nation and had a great successful time here, lighting up the pitch with so many amazing goals.
Despite any reservations he may have had in the summer, he was eager to commit. He signed a new contract, but now, due to circumstances beyond his control or the club’s, he must depart to pursue his career elsewhere, according to Rodgers.

Celtic vs. Aberdeen: Following the thrilling Premiership game at Celtic Park on Saturday, May 27, 2023, Liel Abada and girlfriend Bar Rashti pose with the trophy. Andrew Milligan’s photo
The Celtics management also shared some information about his most recent encounter with Abada, who visited Rodgers at home on Monday night before leaving for the United States the following day. “We had Liel over at the house on Monday night since I knew he was leaving early the following morning,”I was really disappointed because I had been looking forward to working with him to see whether we could help him develop and improve his game over time. Looking back, you can see that he made some really great memories here. We wish him the best of luck in America and know that Glasgow and Celtic will always hold a special place in his heart.It makes no difference where you’re from—you can come from anywhere. It’s obvious that the food and culture are different after traveling halfway around the globe. Everything has changed! Life can be challenging, as can the intensity of football. He handled that really nicely.
Every player is unique, and while some do adjust quickly, others expect them to come in and start playing right away. They immediately have that adaptation. It takes a little while longer for some. He has contributed greatly to the team, and while we are extremely sorry to see him go, we hope he has the greatest possible future. He is a highly talented player.In response to a question about if there was ever a possibility to get Abada back into his Celtic squad, Rodgers stated that there was not. Not really, though. It was just talks and meetings that I had had. It was challenging for him.He was dedicated to his career and trained every day. He’s an elite practitioner. However, the way things changed and progressed felt really challenging.
“A lot of the game of football is mental. It gets really hard to perform at your best if you can’t set something important like this aside or if you’re not fully focused. Unfortunately, such was his situation.
We chatted most days, just to see how he was doing with his training and to see if everything was alright. In the end, he wants to play football, so I think we both considered it and, as a club, decided that moving on would be the best course of action when I thought there was no longer any hope or opportunity.Brendan was questioned about whether Liel Abada felt pressure from Israel and whether that was one of the reasons he wasn’t able to play for Celtic. It was evident that the event was unplanned, as he had stated. There were a number of reasons, wherever it originated, why he shouldn’t have been feeling that way. It is now finished. He has moved on. His two and a half years here were fantastic. He performed admirably, and we must go on.Rodgers acknowledges that Abada is a huge loss for Celtic from a football perspective. Without a doubt. He’s really just entering what I would refer to as the ‘asset age,’ which is the period between 22 and 29 years of age. That’s where you want to reach your peak performance and continue to grow and improve.Since he was 22, he had only recently started that. He will grow and develop, and it is very terrible that we won’t be able to see him here for a longer period of time. He has an innate ability to score goals. In reality, he plays wide like a striker. To score goals, you see how he moves and uses his instincts in the box—something that every team naturally wants.

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