NEIL LENNON has ruled Odsonne Edouard out of Celtic’s game tonight with AC Milan after the Frenchman returned a positive Coronavirus test whilst on International duty. The 22-year-old missed Saturday’s Glasgow Derby due to this and Lennon said he will need to undergo heart rate checks among before returning to the playing side.
As reported by The Daily Record, Lennon says that he won’t rush Edouard back as they cope with players returning from positive tests.
“He’s doing various fitness tests, particularly on his heart rate levels, before we can even consider him returning to training. At the minute he’s working up until he reaches about 70-80 percent of his maximum heart rate.
“We’ll look to build on that over the next couple of days. He won’t be available for the Milan game but there is a possibility he may be okay for the Aberdeen game at the weekend.”
Neil Lennon said that he wasn’t going to rush any of his players back – with Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed also set to return to action in the next week after returning positive tests for the deadly virus.
“I’m not going to rush anyone back. This is a disease and we don’t know what the after-effects can be from one individual to the next. Yes, players are fit and healthy young men but it can affect in many different ways.
“We are taking the utmost care and giving the utmost attention to each and every one of them. I spoke to Nir when he was isolating and he was pretty floored and had lost his sense of taste and smell.
“He was in today, and had a bit of testing and a walk around the grounds just to get some fresh air, but again we will have to assess him as we go along. They are human beings at the end of the day. They are open to illness.
“This virus has damaged the world, not just in football or in Scotland. It really comes close to home when you have a couple of players that you care for and are suffering like that.
“It was great to see him back. Hopefully we will get him back into the routine of things but again I’m not going to gamble with anything. We are just going to make sure everything’s right before we do.”
Celtic missed Edouard on Saturday in what was an abject performance against theRangers. The Frenchman will be hopefully be fit for the vital clash on Sunday against Aberdeen but if he’s not ready he should be given more time. Celtic have other strikers who can play at Pittodrie.
DON’T MISS THIS…Photo Exclusive – The Demolition and Rebuilding of Celtic Park plus Scotland’s Forgotten Clubs
