Nicolas Kuhn won’t be making his Celtic debut on Sunday but there is likely to be playing time for at least two of the younger players against Buckie Thistle.
It seems that some dental work has resulted in a drop in strength for the former Rapid Vienna winger who will have a full week of training ahead of the SPFL resuming at home to Ross County on January 27.
More than halfway through the transfer window Kuhn is the only signing completed by Celtic with Brendan Rodgers making it clear that he is only interested in signing quality that will improve his Starting XI.
Since Celtic first footed St Mirren with a 3-0 victory on January 2 Rodgers has waved off five players to the Asian Cup with Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Oh Hyeon Gyu much more significant absentees than Marco Tilio and Yang Hyun-jun. Kuhn’s arrival suggests that Rodgers hasn’t been thrilled by the wingers brought in last summer.
9 minutes 50 serconds
Will you be playing a strong starting XI?
Nic [Nicolas Kuhn] will not be involved at the weekend as he has had a period out and then had an operation on his teeth so he has had a loss of strength in that, but he will be okay for Ross County.
We will take the chance to be strong because we need to get the players back into a rhythm again and also I will take the chance to involve some young players as well but we will have a strong team because the players have been training hard at Lennoxtown and you can see the confidence and speed of everyone which is great but now we need to take that into the game. We have to get up to speed quickly.
The inclusion of at least two younger players creates some curiosity going into the match.
In other circumstances Rocco Vata would look to be a cert to be involved but his contract stand off suggests that he is unlikely to be involved again with the first team.
Mitchell Frame put in an impressive cameo performance coming off the bench against Feyenoord and could be involved anywhere along the left against Buckie.
Central midfielder Daniel Kelly was included in the pre-season trips to Portugal and Japan.
With Maeda and Oh on duty at the Asian Cup there should be an opening for a striker to impress on Sunday but Vata has been the main goal source all season for Darren O’Dea and Stephen McManus.
CLICK HERE forCeltic midfielder goes out on loan.
CLICK HERE for Kuhn’s Transfermarkt profile.
