Celtic already dealing with two injuries as pre-season starts

Celtic are back. While the UEFA Euro 2024 plays on in Germany, the Bhoys returned to action in preparation for next season. They kicked off with a pre-season match against Ayr United. It ended in a 1-1 draw and fans were disappointed to see Maik Nawrocki leave the pitch after just 19 minutes as he seemed to pick up an injury. They have now been handed further fitness bad news.

That's not what we all want to hear ahead of the coming season. Fans are expecting new signings to be announced soon. But so far, injuries and exits are all they have heard about this summer.

Two penalties provided the goals in the game between Celtic and Ayr United, with Kyogo Furuhashi getting on the scoresheet. Perhaps we’ll see him on penalty duty again in later matches.

As you’d expect, the Celtic line up on the day featured several youngsters from the B team. We also saw others from the first-team who didn't feature much last season. And a regular like Kyogo as well. Nawrocki started but had to be taken off soon with his injury.

Surprisingly there was no sign of Gustaf Lagerbielke in the makeshift squad. Since then it has emerged that that the Swede picked up an injury during training and was unavailable for selection. As reported by The Scottish Sun, Rodgers said about the defender:

"Gus had a twist on his ankle and knee in training so he's probably going to be a week out."

While Nawrocki and Lagerbielke haven't been first-choice players for Celtic, the injuries are still a blow. Rodgers will surely want to have a look over both players in pre-season.

Nawrocki has a chance to play his way into the regular squad, when fit. Lagerbielke is perhaps more likely to need a move away. It looked unlikely he would remain last season but an exit did not materialise.

Fortunately, the Hoops have more players to return to the squad over the coming weeks. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales are still likely to be Rodgers' first choice for a central back pairing. And there has been speculation about making a signing there as well.