Celtic this evening confirmed that neither Christopher Jullien or James Forrest are with Ange Postecoglou’s squad at the pre-season base in Wales and explained why each player is absent.

The French defender has stayed behind in Glasgow to continue his rehabilitation work at Lennoxtown as he battles to recover as quickly as possible from the knee injury sustained against Dundee Utd at Celtic Park at the end of last year when the central defender collided with a goalpost clearing a goanward bound effort from the visitors.

Photo: Andrew Milligan

That’s straight-forward enough, but more concerning is the omission of James Forrest as he is currently unable to join the squad after coming into close contact with a positive COVID case. This dreadful virus had a major impact on Celtic last season so it is a concern that it has already caused us problems ahead of the first ball being kicked against Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow afternoon. The kick-off is at 3pm although the Pass for Paradise will be showing the game live then on repeat tomorrow evening for those unable to watch the early kick-off live.