Celtic finally lured Chelsea’s Belgian midfielder, Charly Musonda, on an 18-month loan deal yesterday but that good news was offset when it emerged that they could be without three senior players for the Europa League meetings with Zenit St Petersburg next month.
Craig Gordon, the goalkeeper, damaged medial ligaments following a collision with his former team-mate Efe Ambrose during Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Hibernian and he will be sidelined until after Easter.
Leigh Griffiths, the striker, will be out for a month following a recurrence of the calf problems which have plagued him for some time. He was also forced to retire early from the match at the weekend and will miss the home leg against the Russians on February 15 and the return a week later.
Meanwhile Mikael Lustig, the Sweden full back, is already a doubt because of the Achilles tendon problem which led to him missing the game against Hibs.
“Leigh will probably be out for about four weeks,” said manager Brendan Rodgers. “It’s his calf, and his ongoing issues with his calves really. I’m disappointed for him but, hopefully, we can get him back fitter and stronger and ready to go again. He’s going to have to work his way through it.” Asked whether the daily drive from his home in Edinburgh might exacerbate the problem, Rodgers replied: “It can do.”
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Gordon, though, is the main cause for concern for the management team and his diagnosis underlines the need for a replacement goalkeeper to be signed before the transfer window closes tomorrow. “He’s going to be out for 12 weeks, so that’s disappointing for him,” said Rodgers. “It’s the ligament in the other knee to the one where he had problems before so he’ll be in a brace for six weeks and we’ll assess it from there.
“It’s one of those where you’re just happy it isn’t on the same knee he’d hurt previously. Craig’s a top professional and he’ll do whatever he needs to do to get back. He’ll do the work to strengthen it again but I’m disappointed for him. Apart from five games out of the team when I first came in, he’s been absolutely brilliant, so we just need to get him back as quickly as we can. We’ve got Dorus de Vries, who has been a really loyal and terrific No 2, and he’ll get an opportunity. However, I think we’ll definitely have to get another keeper in; we’re looking at availability.”
The Europa League round of 32 clash could also come too soon for Lustig. “Mika has been struggling for four or five weeks with his Achilles,” said Rodgers. “You could see it affecting his performances so we spoke and it’s best to get it settled. Hopefully, he’ll be back training within a couple of weeks as he’s been a real stalwart for me since I’ve been here, in terms of his availability, the number of games he’s played and his performances. I hope we’ll get that right and take it from there. We just have to see how he responds and comes back [for Zenit].”
Mikey Johnston, the teenage winger who has featured in the first-team squad recently, has also been ruled out until April after picking up a knock in the Scottish Cup victory over Brechin City ten days ago.
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