CELTIC winger James Forrest has seen a specialist about the ankle problem that has sidelined him for the past month after the injury failed to heal as Parkhead medical staff had hoped.

Forrest limped off in the first-half of the Scottish champions’ Europa League qualifier against Riga in Latvia back in September.

The 29-year-old hasn’t featured for the Glasgow club since and his absence has been keenly felt during their three game winless run.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon confirmed yesterday that the Scotland internationalist had been sent for an expert examination after he failed to respond as expected to treatment.

“James is actually seeing a specialist today about his ankle,” said Lennon. “It hasn’t healed as we’d hoped it would and he may need more time in a protective boot or it may need something else entirely. We’ll know more about that in the next day or two.”

Meanwhile, Lennon has revealed that Christopher Jullien, the French centre half who last played in the Premiership win over Ross County on September 12, has been sent abroad to aid his recovery from a back injury.

“He’s over in Germany having intensive treatment on his back,” he said. “But we’re looking at few weeks from now before he returns to training.

“Christopher’s receiving extensive, round-the-clock physiotherapy. He’ll stay over there for another week or so and we’ll assess him once he comes back. He’s had a lot of discomfort in his back, although the scans have shown nothing significant.”

Elsewhere, Lennon admitted that Mikey Johnston, the winger who hasn’t played since football restarted after the shutdown in August, is still some way from returning to training.

“Mikey is a wee bit away yet,” he said. “He hasn’t played any football since January and he’s also had surgery during that time.

“He has an injury against St Johnstone and then required operations on both calfs so it’s going to be a slow burner for him and he’ll probably pick up a few niggles on his road back.”