Celtic players who could return after the winter break

James Forrest

Forrest has been in and out of the team for a long time now as he has suffered a series of injuries for over a year.

There had been hopes that he could have been fit in time for the League Cup final against Hibernian but that did not turn out to be the case. One would expect though that he would have enough time to return to fitness as we enter the three week break.

It has not been about getting back to fitness for Forrest recently. He has returned to action multiple times. It has been staying fit that has been a problem.

Giorgos Giakoumakis

Giakoumakis arrived at Celtic with a lot of expectations in the summer. But it is safe to say that things have not turned out for him as most people would have hoped.

He has struggled with both form and fitness. When he has been on the pitch, he has struggled to find the back of the net and has only scored once for Celtic till now.

But his bigger problem has been staying fit. He has spent the majority of his time out on the sidelines with one injury problem or the other.

Initially, it was expected to take him a few more weeks to recover from his recent injury and hopefully, that will remain the timeline.

Possibilities: Christopher Jullien, David Turnbull and Albian Ajeti

These are three players who nothing is sure about at this point of time. Firstly, Jullien has been out of action for a long time and is set to end 2021 without making a single appearance for the club.

He was originally expected to return after four months and has appeared to be close to fitness several times after that but has faced setbacks. Hopefully, the Frenchman will return after the winter break.

Turnbull played constant football for Celtic this season until it caught up to him in the League Cup final. It remains to be seen when he will eventually return as hamstring problems are hard to judge.

Another man who has a hamstring injury at the moment is Ajeti. And similar to Turnbull, the timeline of his return is unclear.