Neil Lennon provides update on Shane Duffy’s Celtic first-team future

After a series of terrible performances which saw him relegated to the bench vs Motherwell, Neil Lennon has given an update about Shane Duffy’s Celtic future.

It is safe to say that Shane Duffy did not visualise his Celtic career going the way that it has till now when he initially joined the club. A lifelong Hoops fan, he was given a hero’s welcome. But by now it is clear that the honeymoon period is over and most of the supporters probably wish that the club had not brought in the Republic of Ireland international in the first place.

Duffy has suffered a horrid time in the Hoops. And with every bad game, his confidence has continued to shrink to the point that right now he looks like a bag of nerves waiting to make a mistake at the back.

After sticking with Duffy for weeks, Lennon finally decided to leave him on the bench against Motherwell. And that produced a 4-1 win away from home and there best performance in quite a while. As a result, it could be some time before the centre-back is back in the team.

Speaking about dropping Duffy though, Neil Lennon was insistent that it was just to freshen things up at the back. As reported by Extra, the manager said:

"“It’s just to freshen things up. Shane has played a lot of games. Kris is fit and will bring a freshness to the back four.“We’re just freshening things up again after Thursday night. We’ve rotated the squad all season. Thursday was actually the first time we haven’t changed the team for a while.”"

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While that may indeed be the case, it will be hard for Lennon to drop either Nir Bitton or Kristoffer Ajer in favour of Duffy. Both have done a good job when given the chance, something that cannot be said for the Republic of Ireland international.

This might be a case of the manager downplaying the move while he tries to find a line up that works. Of course, he will know that at this point of time, Duffy is not working. And with how suspect his passing has looked at times, it might just be a case of him being at the wrong club, however ruthless that sounds.

With the amount of money that the Hoops are paying the Brighton and Hove Albion loanee, do not be surprised to see him get more chances in the near future though. And it will the best for all parties involved if he can find a way to make things work.