Celtic fear regular starter has suffered a fracture

Celtic FC v Rangers FC - Cinch Scottish Premiership
Celtic FC v Rangers FC - Cinch Scottish Premiership / Stu Forster/GettyImages
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Injuries have been one of Celtic's biggest problems this season. A lot has been made of their transfer activity and form, but one cannot overlook the fact that Brendan Rodgers has never really had his strongest squad available to him. The likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Daizen Maeda, Liel Abada, Greg Taylor and Reo Hatate have all dealt with or continue to deal with fitness issues.

Add the fact that Jota and Carl Starfelt left in the summer, and that is seven key players from Celtic's treble-winning team from last season. No wonder they have struggled for consistency.

Now, it looks like another name could potentially be added to that list. It is that of Alistair Johnston, who has been a regular starter at right-back since arriving in the 2023 January transfer window from CF Montreal.

Johnston had to be stretchered off in Celtic's last game against Hibernian. And it emerged that he had had to visit the hospital. Now, there seems to be another update on the Canadian international's situation and it is not good news.

Celtic fear starter has suffered a fracture

As reported by Sky Sports, Celtic are waiting on the full diagnosis of Johnston's injury. But they fear that he has suffered a fracture. Rodgers said:

"We think he has a slight fracture on the side of the head. We don't know [how long he will be out], we are just waiting to see."

One can only hope that the issue is not serious for Johnston and that he is back soon. We wish him the best in his recovery.

In his absence, one would expect Anthony Ralston to take Johnston's place at right-back. Now, the Scot is not the best player at Celtic by any means but he has shown in the past that he can do a decent job on the flank.

It goes without saying that the situation is far from ideal if you are Celtic. Let's just hope that the team can find some form over the coming months because the Rangers have momentum now.

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