Celtic’s Assistant Manager John Kennedy has delivered a very positive injury update to readers of Celtic View, with good news on four Celtic stars.
Mikey Johnston has been missing since the start of the year when he tried to play on after receiving a knock up at McDiarmid Park – you remember the incident, which led to the television cameras capturing Neil Lennon swearing at the player’s stupidity. The manager, it turns out, was right to be annoyed as Johnston has yet to kick a ball for the club in ten months, although half of those were the dreadful lockdown months.
Kris Ajer returned after being forced off in the 2-2 draw at Lille in the Europa League, and having missed a few games with his groin problem, he made a welcome return at Fir park at the weekend – only to be substituted again with the same problem.
Jeremie Frimpong was the latest Celtic victim of Motherwell thuggery at the weekend, although Andrew Dallas reckoned it was no big deal.
Then there’s Christopher Jullien, perhaps we didn’t fully appreciate just how much he brings to the Celtic team until he’s missing. His lower back complaint has kept him sidelined for much of the past month or so and that has coincided with a dramatic drop off in form and results. A fit again Frenchman playing alongside the big Norwegian remains Celtic’s best central defensive pairing so it is absolutely vital to get both back fully fit in time for the really important action kicking off again – Celtic away to Hibs next Saturday.
Here’s the update from John Kennedy, who also told the club’s magazine that there has been a friendly organised with Hibs to allow fringe players to get some game-time.
INJURY UPDATE – KENNEDY ON KRISTOFFER AJER
“Kris had an issue against Lille, a minor groin issue. He didn’t injure it against Motherwell but he felt as the game was going on it was getting a bit tighter in that area. We didn’t want to take any risks with that so hopefully, he’ll be fine this week.
INJURY UPDATE – KENNEDY ON JEREMIE FRIMPONG
“Jeremie’s issue was the contact more than anything else. It was a bad tackle but he’ll be okay.”
INJURY UPDATE – KENNEDY ON MIKEY JOHNSTON
“Mikey’s done a bit of training now. He’s obviously missed a lot of time on the pitch so we’re just building him back up.
INJURY UPDATE – KENNEDY ON CHRISTOPHER JULLIEN
“Chris Jullien had a difficult spell there with a back issue but he’s looking in a better place now and we’ll hopefully get him on the pitch at some point during this international break.”
