Celtic’s injury list seems to be growing with every passing day. Craig Gordon missed the last game due to a hip problem, and now Kristoffer Ajer could be out for a lengthy period after breaking his eyeball socket in the quite literal clash against Livingston. Rodgers recently gave an update on the player’s situation and the news is not looking good.
Rodgers was quoted as saying,”Kris is struggling – he’s broken his eye socket and he’s in a lot of pain at the moment. He will need surgery which is a shame for him. He’s in real agony around the area of his cheekbone. Kris has headed down into their guy’s head. There was no fault on the part of the other player. It was just unfortunate.”
Ajer was recently making a comeback from a hamstring injury, and it is clear that he is going to be out for a substantial time especially now that Rodgers has confirmed the Norwegian would need surgery to repair the damages.
The Hoops have been reeling with injuries of late as Scott Brown, Olivier Ntcham, Leigh Griffiths and Eboue Kouassi are missing. However, the international break has seemingly come at the right time for the Hoops as this will now give some time for their players to recover.
Apart from Dedryck Boyata and Filip Benkovic, Ajer is the only one who has looked solid and composed in the centre back role. The Hoops have a decent amount of cover at the back as Rodgers can also call upon someone like Jozo Simunovic and Jack Hendry to fill in the centre back position. But both of them have been below par this campaign, and it is likely that the manager is going to go with the pair of Boyata and Benkovic for most of the games.
Celtic had created good momentum after some thumping results and a home win in the Europa League. However, this recent draw against Livingston and injury issues is going to leave a sour taste for the club. What hasn’t helped is that their major rivals Rangers managed to cut the gap to two points in the Scottish Premiership table now after their dominating 7-1 win against Motherwell.
There is going to be decidedly less margin for error when club football is back after the break and Rodgers would hope that he has enough squad depth to take on the upcoming challenge.
The 20-year-old Norwegian centre-back is going to be a big miss as the season enters in its crucial phase. The Hoops will likely have to cope without the defender in the League Cup final, Europa League and the domestic games as the Bhoys will play five games in the span of 15 days after the break.