This Bizarre Hannibal Story Is The Celtic Transfer Tale Which Just Won’t Die.

One of the standout features of Donald Trump’s rallies these days is his bizarre obsession with Hannibal Lecter.

Yes, that Hannibal Lecter—Hannibal the Cannibal. And honestly, it’s hard to tell if Trump realizes that Lecter is a fictional character or if he’s just pulling one of his usual stunts. Either way, it’s a weird thing to be bringing up in a political context.

Hannibal Lecter has been on my mind a lot lately too, but for a different reason.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog suggesting that Celtic fans won’t focus on the Big Bad of the board whilst we have The Bigger Bad across town foremost in our thoughts, and that this might be one of the reasons our directors sort of like having them around.

But that’s not the only reason Hannibal’s been on my mind.

What’s really got me thinking about Lecter is the constant stream of transfer stories linking us to a player named Hannibal from Manchester United.

Now, I don’t know if these rumours have any more grounding in reality than Thomas Harris’s strange novels about America’s hyper-intelligent serial killer, but they are out there, they are doing the rounds, and unlike many other transfer stories they don’t just pop up and then vanish … these linger in the background, as if they are waiting to pounce.

The Hannibal in question here is Hannibal Mejbri, and while he hasn’t played much for Manchester United’s first team, some people have seen him in action and have mixed opinions.

But the truth is, we don’t know what’s real and what’s just gossip. It’s also telling that he’s being linked to both us and the club from Ibrox at the same time, which usually suggests this might be more of an agent’s game than a genuine transfer pursuit.

So, are we really looking at signing Hannibal?

Or maybe just bringing him in on loan, which seems to be our go-to move lately since it saves us money in the short term?

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing—loan deals with an option to buy have worked out well for us with players like Bernardo, Jota, and Carter-Vickers. But there’s something about loan deals that just doesn’t hit the same way a permanent transfer does.

To be honest, I’m not even sure I’d be sold on a permanent deal for Hannibal because I don’t know enough about him. He’s a product of the Man United Youth Academy, has done well in the Championship, but hasn’t generated a lot of buzz.

And that’s strange to me. If he’s that good, he would be.

On top of that, when an agent starts playing the field between us and the club across town, it makes me wonder if this is something we should steer clear of.

Right now, this seems like a classic case of media hype with not much substance. But this one refuses to die—just like the saga of Doctor Lecter himself. You can’t shake the feeling there’s another twist coming, another chapter yet to unfold.

It’s no coincidence that Ibrox bloggers are trying to stir things up while the club stays silent. That silence could mean they’ve lost out on him, or maybe they were never interested in the first place. It could even be that Hannibal prefers a move to Celtic, and they’re too embarrassed to admit it.

But the truth is, no credible journalist on the Celtic transfer beat has confirmed that we’re seriously linked with him either. So, my gut reaction? Don’t believe a word of it.

This sounds like the kind of thing agents and other interested parties cook up when they’re trying to create a market for their player. Sure, he ticks some boxes, but I’m not convinced he’s what we need, especially if the idea is to replace Matt O’Riley.

I suspect that anyone who thinks there’s something to this Hannibal rumour should take a closer look, because I doubt there’s very much here although with how bizarre this window has been you just never know.

My gut instinct though, as Trump’s handlers should be doing with his own Hannibal fixation, is to file it under “Fiction.”