Celtic Have To Pay £4m To Sign This 28-Year-Old Winger: What’s Right For Martin O’Neill? | OneFootball

According to Fraser Fletcher of TEAMtalk, Celtic are actively pushing to secure Al Ahly’s prized midfielder Emam Ashour. But the Egyptian heavyweights aren’t playing games. They want £4 million, and they want it now. The window for this specific deal will not stay open forever, and the Scottish champions have been told to put their money on the table or walk away.

Celtic face a race against time as Al Ahly set a £4m deadline for Emam Ashour

It is a chaotic market, and Celtic aren’t alone. West Ham and Brighton have both sent scouts to watch the 28-year-old. Derby County are watching from the Championship. Then there is the financial muscle of Saudi Arabia, with NEOM FC dangling the kind of tax-free wages that normal clubs simply cannot compete with. Ashour prefers Glasgow. The carrot of the Champions League group stage is the main draw.

The risk, the reward, and the reality of a £4m gamble

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JULY 03: Emam Ashour #8 of Egypt celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Australia and Egypt at Dallas Stadium on July 03, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Look at the data, and you see why scouts are flying to Egypt. Ashour is an incredibly exciting footballer, even if the domestic league tax must be applied. Last season, he managed two goals and four assists in just 13 league appearances, alongside a CAF Champions League hat-trick against Stade d’Abidjan.

His expected assists (xA) figure of 0.38 per 90 minutes puts him in the top 99 per cent of the Egyptian top flight. Ashour carried that form onto the international stage at the 2026 World Cup, starting every single match for Egypt and bowing out in a thrilling 3-2 defeat against Argentina in the Round of 16 after netting goals against both Belgium and Australia.

He wears the iconic No.22 shirt for Al Ahly. It’s the jersey once owned by the legendary Mohamed Aboutrika. That sort of pressure takes a specific type of character to handle.

Midfield is where O’Neill faces his biggest headache this summer. Arne Engels is widely tipped to pack his bags, and the ongoing noise surrounding Reo Hatate’s future refuses to go away.

Ashour is a good option. He is a dynamic, box-to-box engine. But the red flags are impossible to ignore. Just over a year ago, Ashour broke his collarbone against Inter Miami in the FIFA Club World Cup opener, ruling him out of the entire tournament. At 28, he is a finished product. There is zero resale value here. Paying £4 million, well above his €1.9 million FotMob valuation, for a player transitioning from a much weaker league is a massive gamble for a club that usually pride themselves on scouting smarter.

The club’s recent data-scouting in Scandinavia and at clubs like Brøndby shows they know how to find value. Ashour is talented, but unless Al Ahly drop their demands, Celtic should walk away.