Celtic player ruled out for weeks with hamstring injury

Injuries just refuse to leave Celtic alone at the moment. The club were dealing with quite a few issues at the start of the campaign and it was one of the major reasons why Brendan Rodgers’ second stint in the Parkhead hot seat got off to a rocky start. And just when it looked like things were improving on that front, they have been handed another headache.

Quite a few key Celtic players have already dealt with injury issues this season. One of them is Reo Hatate.

The Japanese had made his return to the pitch though and was starting to perform well once again. But he picked up another injury recently, in the game against Atletico Madrid, and had to be substituted off very early on in the match. Paulo Bernardo, on loan from Benfica, replaced him and did a fine job.

Unfortunately for Hatate, it looks like he is set for another spell on the sidelines. As reported by Sky Sports, Rodgers said:

"“We don’t have a definitive timeline but he will definitely be out for a few weeks.“We are just waiting for it to settle down and waiting for the result and we will see where he’s at but it looked quite a bad one.“If you watch the game, the first 35 seconds he has over-stretched and he has felt it early on.“It’s such a shame for him. It’s a different one. He was out with his hamstring last year, it’s his other one this time. So we just need to try to get to the bottom of that.”"

Celtic player ruled out for weeks with hamstring injury

Judging from Rodgers’ comments, it does not look like a minor injury. But we can only hope that Hatate is back fit and available as soon as possible.

The Japanese midfielder is a very important part of this team and he has shown that in recent weeks. He might have struggled in Rodgers’ system early on in the campaign but he had certainly started to come to grips with it lately, before suffering another injury. We can only wish Hatate the best of luck in his recovery.

It looks like Bernardo is the most likely to take his place in the starting XI. The likes of David Turnbull and Odin Thiago Holm might possibly return to the fold as well, after not getting a lot of playing time in recent weeks.