Tom Rogic is expected to be fit for Celtic’s penultimate league game against Rangers on March 31st, according to interim Parkhead manager Neil Lennon. Olivier Ntcham is also expected to be back for that game although it is expected that it will come too soon for Ryan Christie who has a hamstring injury.
The Australian midfielder has not featured for Celtic this year after he was injured when playing for his country in January at the Asian Cup. Rogic’s appearance at the tournament and Australia’s insistence that he meet up early with his international team-mates meant that he also had to sit out of the 1-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox at the end of December.
Rogic is expected to resume training next week and Lennon is confident that he will be back in action for the game against Steven Gerrard’s side which comes on the back of the international break.
“We’re hoping to get him on the grass next week and then he can have 10 or 12 days build-up towards the Rangers game after the international break,” said Lennon. “Christie has a hamstring injury, so he won’t make the Rangers game. Ntcham is close to coming back, but they’ve had no game-time really.
“It’s a balancing act for us. We’ve got to get some good work into them over the next week to 10 days after Sunday and see how they react to that. But I am optimistic that Tom will be able to play against Rangers – and the same applies to Ntcham as well.”
Lennon was manager at Celtic when Rogic first arrived at the club as a raw 20-year-old but has since matured into one of the pivotal players at Celtic. The playmaker signed a five-year extension to his contract on the eve of last year’s Scottish Cup Final and Lennon is confident that his return to the team offers Celtic something that has been lacking in his absence.
“I think we’ve missed that in the time I’ve been here so far,” he said. “We’ve missed that maverick kind of player and little bit of creativity. Tom can bring that. Christie can bring that and so can Callum to a certain extent.
“It’ll be great to have him back. He’s a big-game player and he has proven that over the last couple of years. It’ll give everyone a huge lift psychologically to have him back involved again.
“He has done brilliantly well. He’s had a fantastic time of it the last few years. The quality of his play is exceptional and he’s scored some really important goals in big games. He has made a great progression under Brendan [Rodgers] over the past two-and-a-half years, as has Callum.
“Ryan’s having a stellar season as well. We’ve still got the likes of [James] Forrest, [Odsonne] Edouard and all those players who can add something to the team.”
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