Neil Lennon gives injury update on five Celtic stars

Celtic have faced an injury crisis lately with a number of their top stars spending time on the sidelines lately. Thankfully, most of them have not been long-term injuries as confirmed by Neil Lennon though it looks like Jozo Simunovic will be out for a significant time after it was revealed that he’ll undergo surgery.

Neil Lennon has faced a selection dilemma lately with a number of his key stars out injured. First team players like Kris Ajer, Hatem Abd Elhamed, Nir Bitton, Jozo Simunovic and Mikey Johnsto have all been injured at some point over the last month. And now the Celtic manager has provided an update on some of his injured stars with one of them likely to face a significant amount of time on the sidelines.

Nir Bitton and Mikey Johnston are out injured but are expected to be back by the end of the month. Luca Connell and Marian Shved also picked up minor injuries in training and will miss Thursday’s game though considering they are not a part of the first team fold right now, their injuries should not possess a huge problem to Lennon’s plans. Simunovic though faces months out as he continues to struggle with knee problems that have haunted him his entire career.

It has been some time since Jozo Simunovic last played for Celtic. He last featured in the club’s 2-0 win over AIK Stockholm in the Europa League Play-Off round about a month ago and has since missed games against Hearts, the return leg against AIK, the Derby against Rangers and last Saturday’s win over Hamilton.

Initially it had appeared that the Croatian had picked up just a minor knock and would be back in a few weeks time. Going into the Old Firm Derby, The Telegraph had even claimed that Simunovic could be back for the game with Kris Ajer out of the tie.

But his condition has clearly deteriorated since then as the club sent him to a specialist during the international  break. And now Neil Lennon has confirmed that he will be undergoing knee surgery in order to take care of his injury problems.

Speaking to Celtic TV, Lennon said:

"“Jozo’s in for surgery. He’s going to have a clean-out in the knee, an arthroscopy it’s called.”“Nir and Mikey will be more towards the end of the month.“There are no fresh injury worries from the weekend, just a couple of injured boys in training.“Luca Connell picked up a slight thigh strain and Marian has a little ankle sprain as well, so they will be out for Thursday.”"

An arthroscopy is small surgical process which is done to fix issues with a joint. The estimated time to return from such a procedure is 6 to 8 weeks though it is possible for people to return much earlier depending on the severity of the process undergone.

Simunovic has a history of knee problems and has already missed 76 games since joining the Scottish champions back in 2015, a number that is set to rise significantly as Celtic enter a busy period of the Scottish and European football schedule. The injury could not have come at a worse time for him personally as Jullien and Ajer have started to form a formidable partnership in defence and by the time the Croatian returns there might not be a place for him in the first team.