Celtic stars Tom Rogic, Kieran Tierney and Odsonne Edouard are all facing personal battles to be fit and ready for fixtures after the winter break.
Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers confirmed that both Tierney and Edouard were not yet fully fit after problems prior to the break that prevented them from starting against Rangers at Ibrox.
Neither have joined in the early training sessions in Dubai.
As quoted by the official Celtic website, he said:
The break is also good for the injured players, but a few of them are still a little while away from full fitness.
We’ve got Odsonne and Kieran – Kieran probably won’t train this week, but there’s a good period for him to work closely with the medical team. Odsonne will train later on in the week.
Of course, those are quality players, which means they’re important players for us. It’s going to be very important for us to get them back as quickly as we can.
Meanwhile, Rogic is nursing a suspected broken hand suffered on international duty with Australia.
The 26-year-old played all 90 mintues of the recent Asian Cup match against Jordan, but as reported by The Scottish Sun, he is now awaiting medical advice on whether he can take part in the rest of their fixtures at the tournament.
All three of these players are absolutely massive in Rodgers’ first-team so fingers crossed that not only do the medical teams get to the bottom of Tierney’s and Rogic’s problems, but Edouard is raring to go when we return to action against Airdrie on the 19th January.
We saw what their absence meant at Ibrox and if we’re to push on and find consistency in the Scottish Premiership, we’ll need them at their peak.
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