Ange Postecoglou on Oliver Abildgaard’s imminent Celtic debut

Ange Postecoglou yesterday provided an update on the summer signing, Oliver Abildgaard, and has backed the Dane to make an impact in his Celtic side over the intense period of games that start today and run through until the break for the World Cup.

Oliver Abildgaard has been taking advantage of the international break to boost his fitness by going through his own mini-preseason at Lennoxtown to get ready for his Celtic debut, which might even come as early as today. Ahead of signing for Celtic, the Danish midfielder (who can also play in central defence, as we may see today) hadn’t taken part in any pre-season training this season as he went back to his homeland after leaving Russia.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA – DECEMBER 5, 2020: Lokomotiv s Grzegorz Krychowiak, Rubin s Carl Starfelt and Oliver Abildgaard Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Oliver Abildgaard is continuing to regain his fitness, but Ange isn’t sure he is completely ready to finally make his Celtic debut. The Dane will be in the squad for today’s game against Motherwell, but may start on the bench, however with both Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers missing today Oliver Abildgaard might get his chance from the start.

Speaking at yesterday’s media conference, which was attended by The Celtic Star, Ange certainly believes Abildgaard will have his part to play in the Celtic in the coming months. “It’s been really important because it wasn’t just that Oliver came in late, he also hadn’t done a pre-season with any club and had been training on his own.

“It would have been unfair on him and in terms of his physical conditioning he wouldn’t have been anywhere near the levels to throw him in before now but he’s done good work the last couple of weeks with the guys who stayed back.

“He’s edging now towards getting game time. He’ll be in the squad tomorrow and potentially we can get him some game time but you’ll see him feature in the next few games. He’ll be important to us.”

“The reason we signed him was because we knew with the fixture list the way it is then we’re likely to get some injuries or players we’ll need to look after, particularly in the midfield area.”

While Oliver Abildgaard is likely to be named as a substitute, it’s fair to say that the central defensive partnership in the 2-0 defeat at St Mirren – Moritz Jenz and Stephen Welsh – failed to cope with the strength of the St Mirren attackers and with RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday night in mind, Abildgaard could well be in the manager’s thoughts.

Here’s Ange’s media conference with The Celtic Star asking Ange about the Ajax model, chipping away in the Champions League and staying at Celtic to see the job through and also about his relationship with Dermot Desmond.

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