Brendan Rodgers has given a detailed breakdown on Celtic’s injury issues and revealed that Callum McGregor has a very good chance of being involved in next week’s crucial SPFL match at Ibrox.
The Celtic skipper hasn’t played since he was substituted at half-time in the 7-1 victory over Dundee on February 28 and will miss out on Sunday’s match at Livingston.
A calf/achilles issue has ruled McGregor out of action for a month but at Livingston on Sunday Reo Hatate should be involved at some stage.
The plastic pitch adds another element to judging the return timeline of injured players but it seems that some progress is being made in clearing what has been a lengthy list of players out injured.
Can we just start off with an injury update?
Cameron Carter-Vickers is fine. Reo Hatate is back and available in the squad which is great news as he’s worked very hard. He’s played a bounce game in the time off and built up his fitness, so it’s great news that he’s back.
Yang Hyun-jun has come back with a bit of tightness, so we need to just make sure that’s nothing more serious. He played two 60 minutes and one 30 minutes whilst he was away so he’s come back a little bit tight. We just have to check and make sure he’s okay.
Luis Palma will just miss out on this weekend, but will hopefully be available soon. Callum McGregor has been out on the field, but we’re not risking him in this game. He should hopefully rejoin training next week.
So Callum has got a chance of playing next weekend then?
Yes. A very good chance.
Maik Nawrocki and Liam Scales were pictured in training today and are in contention for a place in the squad at Livingston after Gus Lagerbielke made a rare appearance off the bench against St Johnstone.
The issue with Yang is more than compensated by the form that Nicolas Kuhn has shown in the last two matches with James Forrest an effective substitute in the last two matches.
Down the left Daizen Maeda was only required for one international due to Japan’s return match against North Korea being cancelled, giving the Celtic winger an extra few days of training at Lennoxtown.
The surface at the Tony Macaroni Arena will have a big bearing on Rodgers’ team selection with the announcement at 10.45am on Sunday- made earlier by the clocks going forward through the night.
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