Ange Postecoglou is hopeful over the return from injury of Carl Starfelt before the Scottish Premiership returns at the end of July. Starfelt had been stricken by another hamstring issue when he collapsed to the floor during a Nations League match back in June for his country.
The Swede has been in rehab working on the injury and Postecoglou is optimistic that he will be able to make a return for the domestic season starting back up again. He said: “Carl’s the one who will probably miss a lot of this pre-season but we’re pretty confident we’ll have him back for the start of the season”, as reported by Scottish Daily Express. The big centre-back came in for some hefty criticism early on in his Celtic career after a few ropey performances, however, he soon recovered to forge a formidable partnership with USA international Cameron Carter-Vickers – having the best record in the league.
The boss also spoke of Chris Jullien and the situation surrounding the Frenchman’s future at the club after he started and played well in the first game of pre-season in Vienna yesterday evening.
He said of the defender’s future: “Again, that’s pretty much in Christopher’s hands, it’s about what he thinks is best for his own future. I’ve said all along, and it was the same last year with Ryan (Christie), Odsonne (Edouard) and Kristoffer Ajer when they were here and doing the same sort of things in pre-season. I think if you ask those boys they would say that I treated them the same as everyone else, and Chris is in the same boat. What happens, that will take its natural course if and when decisions have to be made.”
After Jullien’s antics and poor behaviour which lacked professionalism, being more akin to that of a petulant teenage girl, Ange asserted that he would not be drawn on the future of the former Toulouse man.
He continued: “No, I don’t delve into that. For me, while he’s here and wearing our shirt, I’ll treat him like a player of our football club as I do with every one of them until the moment they decide their future lies elsewhere. I’m pretty relaxed about these things, but it is important with all the players that they make decisions that are best for them. If that’s with this football club then fine, but if it’s not, then that’s fine as well.”
Paul Gillespie
