Celtic handed major blow as star has fractured ankle

The Celtic star’s injury has turned out to be more serious than first thought as he is set to spend significant time on the sidelines with a fractured ankle.

Thankfully Neil Lennon has a deep squad of players to pick from because Celtic’s luck with injuries has never been good in the recent past. And it looks like that is not gonna change anytime soon as another chapter has been added to that book with James Forrest’s injury turning out to be much more serious than first thought.

Forrest had to be brought off in the first-half of Celtic’s 1-0 win over Riga in the Europa League qualifiers. And while it was not clear how long he would be out for at that point of time, there were hopes among fans that he could return in time for the Glasgow Derby following the international break although Neil Lennon quickly poured water on those expectations.

And now it has been confirmed that it will be quite some time before the fans get to see Forrest again. As reported by Glasgow Live, the Celtic veteran suffered a fractured ankle and has no chance of returning to action before November. He is set to spend another 4 to 6 weeks on the sidelines.

Thankfully, Celtic have Jeremie Frimpong in their ranks. The youngster has made the right-wingback position his own since Forrest’s injury, putting in multiple man of the match performances.

An injury at this stage to the Dutchman though would leave the team awfully exposed at the back. Yes, Hatem Abd Elhamed is capable of playing there but then that would leave us short of options in the centre in case of any injuries there. Kristoffer Ajer has also played right-back in the past and could be an option if needed.

All this could lead Neil Lennon to abandon the 3-5-2 formation though. As a result, we can only hope that Forrest returns as soon as possible.

For all the stick that he gets from fans these days, there is no way of denying that he has been an important part of this team for a decade now. And he is the type of player that we are going to miss when he is not around. Get well as soon as possible, Jamesy.