Haissem Hassan could be Celtic’s biggest transfer statement yet.

Right, Celtic fans, somebody pinch me. Actually, no — don’t pinch me. I might wake up.

Because if what is being reported is true, Celtic may just have pulled off one hell of a transfer coup. Haissem Hassan, Real Oviedo, a reported package which could rise to around £9.5 million, a five-year deal apparently waiting for him.

Yet apparently, when it came down to the choice, Hassan wants Celtic. Now, I don’t know about you, but my Ginger Witch instincts are already dancing around the cauldron.

After everything we have been through with Celtic’s transfer business, I have developed a very particular relationship with the words “deal done”.

I don’t celebrate until the medical is complete, the contract is signed and Celtic themselves announce the bloody thing. Even then, I probably want to see the player standing at Celtic Park holding the scarf before I completely believe it.

But if this one is genuine, and Celtic really have managed to beat other clubs to a player in this price range, then that is quite something.

Hassan is 24 and has been attracting serious attention. He is quick, direct, capable of taking players on and appears to possess exactly the kind of attacking qualities Celtic have been crying out for: pace, unpredictability and genuine threat.

You know the kind of player I mean. The one who gets the ball and immediately makes you sit forward because something might actually happen, rather than another sideways pass, another backwards pass or another pretty little triangle which ends with the ball exactly where it started.

I want a Celtic winger who looks at a defender and thinks: “Right. I’m having you.”

That is the sort of footballer I want at Paradise, and Hassan certainly appears to have that little bit of devil in him. Perhaps that is why my cauldron has started bubbling.

What makes this transfer particularly interesting is the reported Marseille involvement. They were apparently well advanced in their interest, so this was not simply Celtic wandering into an empty room, throwing a few million pounds on the table and walking away with the player. Marseille have financial issues, but they brought the deal to the point of closure at one stage so they must have been confident they could do it.

There was genuine competition, and reports suggest Celtic were told that Hassan preferred Parkhead provided the club was prepared to match the level of offer being discussed elsewhere. Celtic appears to have done exactly that.

A package potentially worth around £9.5 million is substantial money for this club, but it also tells me something. Perhaps Celtic are finally beginning to understand that if you want quality, sometimes you have to pay for it. Perhaps — just perhaps — someone at Celtic Park has finally realised that spending money and wasting money are not the same thing.

Before everybody starts celebrating as though we have just won the Champions League, however, caution is the best response because we have been here before.

A player is linked, then he is apparently close, then there is an agreement, then he is travelling, then he is having a medical and then he is signing. Suddenly, boom, something goes wrong.

Football transfers are strange things. They live in dark forests, feed on rumours, wear disguises and have a particular fondness for allowing Celtic supporters to become excited before disappearing into the mist.

So my spell is simple: I will believe Haissem Hassan is a Celtic player when I see him standing at Celtic Park wearing the Hoops.

Until then, I remain cautiously optimistic, although I have to admit that I am struggling to keep the excitement entirely under control.

The bigger picture is interesting as well. Should Hassan arrive for a package around the level being reported, Celtic’s summer spending could move beyond £25 million, with add-ons potentially taking the total higher still.

Stop for a moment and think about that, because this is not the kind of Celtic transfer window we have become accustomed to watching unfold while I sit in front of the computer screaming, “JUST SIGN SOMEBODY!”

Things have happened slowly. Way too slowly. But when they have happened they have been eye catching deals. Big deals. For big money. And maybe that’s a sign that we are finally shopping in the right markets.

Still, I remain a little witchy about the whole thing because transfer fees alone do not impress me. I don’t care whether Celtic spend £5 million, £10 million, £20 million or £50 million if the recruitment is wrong.

I want players who fit Martin O’Neill’s Celtic. I want hunger, character and footballers who understand what it means to walk into Paradise. I want players who don’t view Celtic simply as a convenient stepping stone before disappearing south at the first opportunity, and most importantly I want players who actually improve the team.

Celtic do not need another collection of names. They need a proper squad, one capable of competing domestically and finally turning our Champions League ambitions into something more substantial than another annual episode of What Might Have Been.

That is why Hassan interests me. If he is the player Celtic believe he is, then he is not simply another signing. He is another piece of the bloody puzzle.

There is also the international angle, which makes the story even more intriguing. Hassan has already experienced football at a high level and knows what serious pressure feels like, and that matters to me because I want players coming to Glasgow who are not frightened by it.

Celtic is pressure. Celtic Park is pressure. The supporters are pressure and the shirt itself carries pressure. Every misplaced pass becomes a discussion, every missed chance becomes a headline and every poor performance gets dissected.

But when you embrace all of that, there is nowhere better.

So, is this all too good to be true? Maybe. Until the medical is completed and the contract is signed, I am keeping one eyebrow raised.

But if Celtic have genuinely beaten good teams to Haissem Hassan – and all the signs are that we have – and matched the kind of financial package required and convinced the player that his future belongs at Parkhead, then I have to take my witch’s hat off to them because this is exactly the sort of ambition I have been demanding.

Not excuses, endless negotiations, “we tried” or “the player chose another club”. What I have wanted is action.

If Hassan walks through those Celtic Park doors, signs the contract and pulls on the Hoops, I will happily admit that maybe — just maybe — something has changed. Maybe Celtic are finally shopping like a club which understands where it belongs. Maybe Martin O’Neill is finally getting the ammunition he needs, and maybe the transfer department has finally realised that opportunities do not wait forever.

Perhaps this summer will not be another exercise in watching targets disappear into the distance while Celtic explains why every deal was simply too difficult.

My Ginger Witch instincts are telling me to be careful, my Celtic heart is telling me to get excited, and my brain is standing somewhere between the two screaming, “WAIT FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT, WOMAN!”

Fair enough. I’ll wait, but I’m smiling while I do it.

Because if Haissem Hassan really is coming to Paradise, Celtic haveput serious money on the table and convinced a highly rated player that Celtic was the place he wanted to be, and after everything we have endured in recent transfer windows, I quite like the sound of that.

Now Celtic, get the bloody contract signed. The cauldron is already bubbling, and this witch is watching.

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