NEIL Lennon is set to hand new signing Greg Taylor his Celtic debut tomorrow - against the Scotland left back’s former club Kilmarnock.
Boli Bolingoli suffered a groin strain in the second-half of his side’s 1-1 draw with Europa League rivals Rennes in France on Thursday evening.
The Belgian will miss the Ladbrokes Premiership game this weekend and probably the Betfred Cup quarter-final with Partick Thistle at Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
Jonny Hayes came on for Bolingoli in the absence of Taylor in Brittany and helped Lennon’s men secure a point in their opening Group E match.
But his 21-year-old club mate, a £2.2 million capture from the Rugby Park club earlier this month, is set to be fast-tracked into the starting line-up.
“Greg Taylor is good,” he said. “He obviously hadn’t played for a while and did a lot of conditioning work.
“But Bolingoli’s form has been good and when you’re looking at your bench Hayes can play a number of positions. That’s why Greg wasn’t in the squad .
“But with Boli being out for maybe a couple of games, he could be in contention to play.
“Boli won’t be fit for Sunday and will probably miss Partick Thistle. He might be fit for Hibs on Saturday week, but Greg is a contender for Kilmarnock, absolutely. It will be a difficult game for us so it will be good to have him involved.”
Lennon, whose team is looking to record their sixth consecutive Premiership victory, feels the fact that Taylor is ready to step in for the injured Bolingoli shows the strength in depth he has at his disposal.
“I was really happy when the window closed looking at the squad and the depth of the squad and the players we’ve brought in,” he said.
“Goalkeeper is strong, we’ve bolstered the defence with good players and Mohamed Elyounoussi will add to the attacking element we’ve got.
“Nir Bitton and Mikey Johnston aren’t far away from being fit again as well and we’ve got Tom Rogic who is like a new player for us.”
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