Celtic defender Carl Starfelt visited a specialist in London this week to determine the timescale of the knee injury that has kept him out for the last month, according to a report.
The 27-year-old was taken off in the 4-0 Glasgow derby win over Rangers last month and has not featured since, missing all three of Celtic’s Champions League group stage fixtures so far.
According to The Scottish Sun, Starfelt travelled to London to see the specialist on Tuesday, with both club and player hoping that a swift return to first-team action before the Scottish Premiership breaks for the World Cup is in order.
The Sweden international also missed all of Celtic’s pre-season and the start of their Scottish Premiership campaign after sustaining an injury whilst playing for his country in June.
Starfelt scored his first and second Celtic goals in his first two appearances of the season away to Kilmarnock and Dundee United but has made only two starts for the club so far this season between his injury lay-offs.
His absence has been hugely felt in recent weeks as Celtic have tasted defeat in three of their last five games, albeit two of those have come against Real Madrid and RB Leipzig.
Starfelt’s return would be a considerable boost in a massive month
After a rocky start, Starfelt established himself as the de-facto first choice centre half partnership alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers last season for Celtic.
When available, the former Rubin Kazan defender has offered value for money, even given the estimated £5million paid to the Russian side, with his positional awareness and composure key assets for Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic rebuild.
With Carter-Vickers also spending some time on the side-lines and missing the USA’s warm-up fixtures for the World Cup, getting even one of the two first-choice defenders back for next week’s return fixture against RB Leipzig would be a huge boost to Celtic’s hopes of qualifying for the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Given the tough league fixtures in the coming weeks for the champions with trips to St Johnstone, Hearts and Livingston to come, the defence of their Scottish Premiership crown could also hinge on their primary central defenders’ long-term availability.
Here’s hoping that Starfelt is back featuring regularly for the Hoops, and that last season’s central defensive partnership that bore so much fruit for Celtic can be reunited before the World Cup.
In other news: RB Leipzig confirm Gulacsi injury blow to add to mounting lay-offs after Celtic UCL win
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