CRAIG GORDON will sit out the game against Kilmarnock tonight and the probably the match against Aberdeen at the weekend with a view to being 100% fit for the Scottish Cup Final against Motherwell next Saturday.
Gordon missed out on the trip to Tynecastle at the weekend, as he has a slight pain in his knee. Given his injury problems relating to his knees over hiss career, the Celtic staff are taking no chances and instead manager Brendan Rodgers is happy to rely on Scott Bain, who is about to become a permanent Celtic signing over the next few weeks.
“Craig’s not fit just now. We’re just monitoring him between now and the Final and we’ll just see how he is,” Rodgers revealed yesterday.
“There’s just a slight pain in it (knee) and it’s not worth the risk. He could play, but we want to ensure we have as many players as fit and strong and available for Hampden as we can.
“When I have a capable guy like Scott Bain, then there’s no point in risking Craig. Just let him recover, shut him down for a few days and then look at it again for the weekend.”
The news that Odsonne Edouard’s season is barring a miracle over leaves Rodgers a little short up top, given the fact that Leigh Griffiths has been ill and is not available for selection tonight.
“We’ve got the possibilities to do a number of things. Leigh will be back in training after tonight’s game,” Brendan said.
“Moussa’s great. Obviously, you’ve got to think between now and the Final. But we’ve got other options, like James Forrest can play up there as he did in the Champions League qualifiers. Patrick Roberts has played up there for a few games.”
Odsonne Edouard is set to sign up on a permanent deal, as is Scott Bain but Rodgers understands that in the very nature of things, some players may also move on in the summer, with decisions to be made by players and their agents about where they will be playing their football next season.
“We’re conscious that at times Celtic will sell players, but we’re trying to keep the core group of players because there’s a lot of work’s gone into that in the last couple of years,” Rodgers stated.
“We’ve been trying to create an identity. The players will have been loving this success. Of course, there will be one or two who may look at other needs, which you can understand.
“But going forward, we want to keep improving. It’s a difficult market, it’s good to bring in players who are going to be better than we have. But that’s big, big money.
“However, we have to find that way to do that and that’s something we’ll look to do and work’s been ongoing for a while.”
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