CELTIC outcast, Amido Balde, is on the move again for the second time in six months after joining Hapoel Tel Aviv on loan in Israel.

 

The Portuguese striker has cut short a loan spell at Belgian club Waasland-Beveren and completed his medical yesterday in Tel Aviv, where he will link up with Eyal Berkovic, the former Celtic and West Ham United midfielder, who is Hapoel's general manager.

Balde cost Celtic £1.5million when he was bought from Vitoria Guimaraes in June 2013 but scored just three times in 23 appearances, another of the Scottish champions' expensive failures in the transfer market.

Ronny Deila, the Celtic manager, had no place for Balde in the first-team this season which led to the striker's initial switch to Belgium.

The 23-year-old signed up for a season-long loan at Waasland-Beveren and despite scoring a stunning 40-yard goal on his debut in September against Zulte Waregem, he never found the net again and became somewhat of a peripheral figure at the club.

That situation prompted Berkovic to ask if Hapoel Tel Aviv could take Balde out to Israel. The former Israeli international, who was transferred to Celtic for £5.7m in 1999 from West Ham, took over last summer as general manager at Hapoel but coach Asi Domb's side are ninth in the 14-team league.

"I am very happy that I came to Hapoel Tel Aviv," Balde told his new club's website. "I've heard many good things about the club and the atmosphere at Bloomfield Stadium. I came to Hapoel Tel Aviv to score goals and I hope I can do this with the team."

Balde's new home ground is well-known to Celtic, who lost there 2-1 in a Europa League group match in 2009-10 and although Tony Mowbray's side later defeated Hapoel in Glasgow, it was the Israeli side who topped the group and reached the last 32.