Haissem Hassan to Celtic now dead in the water as big hitters Olympique de Marseille enter the race for his signature
Celtic can forget about signing Haissem Hassan now that Marseille have entered the race for his signature...
Eric Knott Well, that’s the end of that then.
Celtic can forget about signing Haissem Hassan from Oviedo.
Olympique de Marseille have now entered the race to sign the Egyptian winger, with Hassan declaring the French south coast club to be his favoured destination.
This makes sense because of Hassan’s French roots.
He was born in Paris, and began his senior playing career with French side Châteauroux.
Prior to that he had youth stints at Porte de Bagnolet and Paris FC.
Moving to a club like Marseille would meet the ambitions of a player who grew up playing in the French system.
When a club with the spending power of Les Olympiens enters the race, Celtic – with their dithering and farting style of negotiations – can forget about competing.
The thoughts of Michael Nicholson trying to compete with Marseille CEO Alessandro Antonello in all of this makes me cringe.
Appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Olympique de Marseille in June 2025, Alessandro Antonello has previously held positions within the management of PUMA Italy, the San Siro stadium, and most recently Inter Milan.
Nicholson can’t compete with an individual like that.
Our ‘sports lawyer’, who worked for a ‘leading law firm’ would be way out of his depth here.
So, bearing that much in mind, I think we can resign ourselves to the fact this pursuit is over.
When the player himself declares it’s his favoured destination, then it’s definitely over:
🚨 Haissem Hassan 🇪🇬 a refusé les offres de certains clubs et privilégie l’OM !
— BeOM (@Be_OM13) August 5, 2026
Le joueur et le club marseillais sont tombés d’accord après quelques semaines de discussions ! 🤝
En cas de ventes de joueurs côté OM, le dossier se débloquerait !
🗞 @nordinealisaid pic.twitter.com/IQ2RbsNKRD
It was a nice idea while we flirted with it.
But did Celtic and Nicholson really think after Hassan’s performance in the World Cup that no other clubs would be interested in him?
As far as I’m concerned, we were never really interested in the Egyptian international.
This one was the usual paper talk, designed to make us look good, and to fool the fans into thinking the board and Nicholson were busy in the transfer market.
I think we all know by now that they’re not, and a summer that has landed just 2 players so far proves that much.
Now it’s time to move onto the next target.
Oops, we don’t have another target!
Oh, well.
Jamesie Forrest and Yang will do just fine.
Another one bites the dust!
Key Takeaways
- Celtic can no longer pursue Haissem Hassan as he favours a move to Olympique de Marseille.
- Hassan’s French roots and career background make Marseille an ideal destination for him.
- Celtic’s CEO Michael Nicholson struggles to compete with Marseille’s well-established leadership.
- The author doubts Celtic’s genuine interest in Hassan, seeing it as a smokescreen to appease fans.
- With only two signings so far, Celtic lacks a clear backup target amid transfer market failures.
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Bhoycie 
Aodhán Ó Conchobhair 
Phillip Cooney 
Nicholson what a totally inept CEO you could cut his wages and he would say nothing fuckwhit.
Won’t be paying to watch us get thumped in europe
Too bloody slow low balling and the worst ceo ever who couldnt run a bath never mind a transfer window