Jocelin Ta Bi’s agent hits out at Celtic, then admits player may indeed need surgery

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The Celtic Star

·20 de enero de 2026

Jocelin Ta Bi’s agent hits out at Celtic, then admits player may indeed need surgery

Jocelin Ta Bi’s Israeli agent has been quoted in the mainstream media today, talking about the Ivory Coast’s winger’s move to Celtic breaking down ahead of his subsequent transfer to Premier League side Sunderland…

New signing Jocelin Ta Bi of Sunderland is introduced to the fans prior to the Premier League match between Sunderland and Crystal Palace at Stadium of Light on January 17, 2026. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

It’s clear from the quotes that there are indeed injury concerns surrounding the player and when his name was first mentioned as a potential Celtic signing several weeks ago the reported claimed that he would be out for two weeks.

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That estimation has passed and while Sunderland were prepared to sign an injured player who may require surgery and severe more months on the sidelines, Celtic’s needs are more immediate with first team ready, fully fit and good to go straight into the team signings desperately needed.

Celtic’s initial transfer list for the January window was drawn up by the now sacked Head of Football Operations Paul Tisdale and Ta Bi’s name would have come from there. But with Martin O’Neill taking over from the hopeless Wilfried Nancy, that list was quickly consigned to the wastepaper basket at Lennoxtown.

Celtic Manager Martin O’Neill arrives at the ground ahead of the Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Auchinleck Talbot and Celtic at Rugby Park on January 18, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)

O’Neill also revealed at a recent media conference that he has vetoed various deals and it’s likely that Ta Bi fell into that category primarily because of his injury.

The interim Celtic manager is in the job to the end of the season and his brief is to win the league from a chasing position with the team currently six points adrift of leaders Hearts after Nancy dropped a dozen points in half a dozen matches in the Scottish Premiership.

Wilfried Nancy, Dundee Utd v Celtic, Scottish Premiership. Tannadice, 17 December 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

The player’s Israeli agent Stav Hakmon fired off numerous digs at Celtic and even the Celtic support. For our part we made it perfectly clear on The Celtic Star that should Jocelin Ta Bi sign for Celtic he would be warmly welcomed by the Celtic supporters just like any other player coming into the club.

“We had offers from teams in the Champions League and five clubs in the MLS, but we turned them down. We waited for the right offer,” Hakmon said as reported by Scottish Sun.

“He underwent tests in Israel and we were asked to come to London to see one of the world’s leading foot specialists. We felt that something was amiss. It wasn’t a matter of playing games because the deal was done.

“They didn’t tell us that the tests were abnormal, they said that, after the results, we would sit down and decide whether it was appropriate for him to sit out at the beginning.

“I had a call from Sunderland’s technical director a few days earlier. I thanked him very much for his interest, but I don’t do things like that. It’s a moral issue although legally I didn’t have to do it.

“I thought they would back off, but later we got another call from the owner of Sunderland. He asked why we weren’t doing the deal. It didn’t seem like Celtic were pushing for it, and he told us to think about it again. I paid the hotel bill so that Celtic wouldn’t say they had paid for us and we took the train to Sunderland.

“We sent an official letter to Celtic and Maccabi Netanya saying that the player would not be coming due to foot-dragging,” Jocelin Ta Bi’s agent said.

“Jocelin received messages from Celtic fans saying that he was a Zionist and they didn’t want him there, and that the owner of Netanya invests in all kinds of security companies.

“Celtic called us numerous times, but until it was completely signed with Sunderland, we didn’t get back to them,” Hakmon added. He went on to suggest that Celtic pulled out ‘because it’s Israel’ then gives the game away by revealing more about his client’s injury issues that could see him sidelined until next season.

“Did they do it on purpose because it’s Israel? I don’t want to say that categorically, but that’s how it looks,” Hakmon said. “He has an ankle problem that everyone knows about. They wanted him to come in for an examination, but I didn’t see anything unusual on the doctor’s face.

“Maybe he’ll need surgery at some point. The doctor said that if he has surgery, it will take two to three months to recover.”

That scenario is clearly not any use to Celtic’s current management team who are looking at additions coming in during the January transfer window to play a part this season. Clearly the chances of Jocelin Ta Bi playing much part in the remaining months of Celtics season would be fair to regard as doubtful so you could see why Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney would veto the deal for purely footballing reasons.

Sunderland’s situation is different. They are mid-table in the Premier League and admit that they can’t afford to buy players who are ready to play in the Premier League. Jocelin Ta Bi is a Sunderland project signing, a player that they hope to develop and turn into a Premier League player but most likely their thoughts are on him making an impact next season, thus allowing time for his injury to settle and him to settle in at the club.

“He had all the tests done there and they saw everything. We didn’t hide anything,” Stav Hakmon said about dealing with Sunderland after the train journey to the North-East. “They welcomed us there perfectly. We returned to the hotel and after a few hours, they told us that he had passed the tests but couldn’t sign because he didn’t have a work permit.

“We enlisted the help of the Ivory Coast manager. He is one of only three or four players in history who have passed the Premier League‘s exceptions committee, having never played for the national team.

“The previous player to be approved in this way was Gabriel Martinelli from Arsenal, who came from the third division in Brazil.

“He deserves it, he’s an amazing kid,” he added, taking about Jocelin Ta Bi. We wish the player well for his time at Sunderland and will watch with interest how he gets on.

Celtic’s focus though, rightly must be elsewhere and even effort must be made to bring in players this week to help the team for the vital game at Tynecastle on Sunday. Had he signed Jocelin Ta Bi would have been unavailable for that game, and many more to follow, DUE TO INJURY.

That’s the bottom line.

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