Oscar Gloukh Celtic transfer scouting: Why Hoops should be front of queue for Israeli 'wonderkid'

With reported interest in several key players already, the World Cup in Qatar could bring stars, such as Cameron Carter-Vickers, Josip Juranovic and Reo Hatate, to the attention of even more big sides around Europe.

However, Ange Postecoglou is determined to ensure the club is prepared for any eventuality with plans for the next window, and subsequent ones, already well formed.

Believed to be near the top of the list for this January's coming window is Maccabi Tel Aviv’s ‘wonderkid’, Oscar Gloukh.

In this scout report, we will analyse the 18-year-old Israeli to assess what he would potentially add to Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic midfield...

Player profile

An attacking midfielder, who can play as both an 8 or a 10, Oscar Gloukh broke into the Maccabi Tel Aviv earlier this year, playing eight games and scoring three goals in the final weeks of the Israeli 2021-22 league season.

He rose to prominence further this summer, starring for Israel's under-19 team that made it to the final of the European Championships in Slovakia.

Gloukh was a standout in their run to the final, scoring three goals, including the goal of the tournament in the final, which they lost to England in extra-time.

He has gone on to become a key player for Tel Aviv this season, scoring three and setting up four in just five appearances. He also turned out for the Israeli side in their Europa Conference League qualifiers. 

For Tel Aviv, Gloukh has been used mostly as the left central midfielder in their favoured 3-5-2 while for Israeli at the European Championships, he was used as the central attacking midfielder in their 4-2-3-1.

The above heatmap from last season shows him active in the left half-space, where he will often drift infield, onto his favoured right foot. Although stronger on his right, Gloukh is more than capable off his left, as we will see later in this report.

At 5ft 7in and just under 10 stone, he is on the smaller side but he is also agile and well balanced, with a low centre of gravity, which allows him to evade opponents with ease.

Intelligent and technically brilliant, Gloukh is also mobile and full of running, making him stand out as a dynamic presence on the pitch.

The above pizza chart gives further insight into Gloukh’s profile from his minutes played in the 2021-22 season for Maccabi Tel Aviv. The chart uses Wyscout per-90-minute data converted into percentile ranks to compare him with other central midfielders and central attacking midfielders (minimum 500 minutes played) in the 2021-22 Israeli topflight. It covers attacking, possession and defending metrics.

There is one caveat is that his 585 minutes played is one of the lowest minute counts of all players included in the dataset. This means these numbers may not be scalable and/or sustainable at exactly these kinds of levels over a longer period. That said, they still offer some interesting insight into his profile.

Assessing his attacking section, we can see clearly see Gloukh’s impressive output come through. Despite only making his breakthrough into the Tel Aviv side, his three goals, from an xG of 1.49, see him rank well for goal contributions and expected goal contributions.

For shooting, he ranks highly, in the 87th percentile, for the volume of shots (2.31 per 90). He is also above the 75th percentile for his on-target percentage with 40% of his shots on goal finding the target.

In Possession, Gloukh looks to be a good ball carrier with his rank for carries, a combination of dribbles and progressive runs, in the 93rd percentile.

His rank for pass completion rank is quite impressive, completing an average of 87.5% of his passes per 90. This is particularly impressive given that of the three types of passing metrics included here, Gloukh ranks highest for dangerous passes, a combination of key passes and through passes.

This suggests he tends to look for that killer ball when in possession. In his minutes towards the end of last season, he averaged 1.08 through passes per 90 and 0.15 key passes per 90.

Finally on his pizza chart, his defensive numbers see him rank fairly low but, given his primary role as a creator, this is probably to be expected.

However, his defensive duel win rate % is above average, in the 71st percentile. Again, this is a small data set, but this suggests he could have something to offer off-the-ball too.

Shooting

As seen in his pizza chart, Gloukh is a high-volume shooter who gets a decent percentage of his efforts at goal on target

The above shot map, from Wyscout, shows all shots by the youngster that the data provider has registered from his career to date.

We can see he tends to take his shots from central areas, with slightly more to the left consistent with his position on the pitch. We can also see he has got into high-quality scoring positions with most of his goals coming in the middle of the goal, around the penalty box.

As mentioned Gloukh is technically very good and this certainly applies to his shooting. He is a very clean striker of the ball, able to generate plenty of power with little backlift off either foot.

Here, we can see an example of how capable he is off his ‘weaker’ foot, lasering a strike into the bottom corner with his left to score for Israeli at the Under-19 European Championships in the summer.

His excellent ball striking was on show in the final against England too. Initially leading the counter-attack himself, carrying from the edge of his own box to the edge of the England box, Gloukh slows his run and lays the ball to his teammate on his left before taking up a position in the box to receive the ball.

He then opens up his body to beat the England defender before feinting left, then right, to create space for the strike which he drives cleanly past the goalkeeper into the top-right corner.

Final ball

As suggested when his percentile rank chart was assessed, Gloukh is a driving creative force in the final third, capable of playing the line-breaking balls from in and around the box.

Not only does he demonstrate excellent vision to spot those killer passes but also he is also capable of executing them too, which is particularly impressive for a young player with only a handful of professional appearances to his name.

He is also composed in dangerous areas and more often than not makes the right decisions. Here we can see a good example of his mature decision-making in the final third for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Picking up a knock-down in the box, from a team-mate who has come round the back, Gloukh lifts his head to assess his options.

Here, particularly for a young player, the temptation would be to quickly get the ball back into the heart of the box. However, Gloukh shows composure beyond his years, steadying himself to roll the ball into a teammate at the top of the box who finishes first time.

As with his shooting, Gloukh is capable of executing the final ball off his left as well as his right as in this next example, which also highlights his ability to pick up clever spaces in between the lines too.

Receiving the ball between the lines, Gloukh again shows how well he can adjust his body in tight situations, opening himself up and allowing the ball to run through before taking a touch to move away from the defender.

Once free inside the box, he again shows good composure, pulling the ball back with his left into the path of his team-mate to shoot past the goalkeeper. 

Dribbling

As we have already seen, Gloukh is very good at adjusting his body shape to evade defenders. He is quick and agile, and this also makes him an effective ball carrier.

Last season for Tel Aviv, he averaged four dribbles per 90 and 2.92 progressive runs per 90, which saw him rank very highly for carries in his percentile rank chart at the start of this report.

He is direct in his dribbling and consistently progresses the ball into dangerous areas, gliding past opponents in the process. He also has the presence of mind to slow down and assess his options when required.

Here we see an example of his dribbling in dangerous areas from a game just a few weeks ago for Maccabi. Initially, showing intelligence to drop deep and then make the run off the back of the opponent, Gloukh picks the ball up in his favoured left half-space.

Driving towards the centre, he takes three quick touches, keeping the ball in close control at all times, before unleashing another precision strike into the far right corner that beats the goalkeeper.

At 18, he does have some physical development to go. When does, he will become an even more effective ball carrier.

That physical development will also help aid improvement in the defensive side of his game.

Conclusion

Gloukh currently has a contract to 2024 while Maccabi Tel Aviv are said to be attempting to tie him down to a new deal.

However, with reported interest from not only Celtic but Marseille and Zenit St Petersburg it seems more than likely Gloukh will move on from the Israeli league sooner rather than later.  

When he does, Celtic should be at the front of the queue. Although it would likely be a big fee to pay for an 18-year-old, Gloukh has already shown he has the potential to add a real creative spark to Postecoglou’s midfield, with scope for further development too.

Should Celtic receive an offer they could not turn down for someone like Matt O’Riley in the coming months, Gloukh would represent an ideal replacement.