Having missed out on the 2-0 victory over St Johnstone on Wednesday evening, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that on loan Leicester City defender Filip Benkovic now faces between four to six weeks out injured with an ankle problem.
Speaking after the victory to Sky Sports, the gaffer confirmed that the 21-year-old had been suffering with soreness on the ankle for a few weeks but it came to a head in Saturday’s victory over Hamilton.
Rodgers wasn’t yet sure whether the Croatian would return to his parent club for treatment or whether he’d remain with us, but given his impact at the club and his importance to the first team, it is a massive blow as he faces a month out of action.
Six weeks probably isn’t long enough for Rodgers to dip into the transfer market again given the window slams shut later this evening but he explained post-game.
“He is probably going to be four to six weeks. He’s got a couple of weeks with his ankle in the boot and then we’ll assess it with a specialist after four weeks. Then it’ll probably be a week to 10 days to get him back up to his speed and training rhythm again. He’d had a sore ankle for a number of weeks and then he obviously had some pain in it after the weekend, so we had it scanned and it just needed a bit of time to heal.”
Though it’s unlikely we’ll see a fresh face come in given our January business so far, Rodgers did intimate that it could well scupper a loan departure for Jack Hendry in the second half of the year as we look to ensure we have cover and additional options.