Celtic defender Jack Hendry was left out of the squad to face Dundee after three consecutive match-day appearances.
So far under Neil Lennon, Hendry hasn’t been given a single minute of action. Despite that, however, he had made three squad appearances as an unused substitute in Lennon’s first three matches in charge.
His exclusion, however, came on the same weekend that Dedryck Boyata had to drop out of the squad altogether. And, despite being stretched in numbers, Lennon decided to play Mikael Lustig at centre-back over Hendry.
The natural concern here is the fact that Lustig is a natural right-back. He’s barely played at centre-back over the last two-and-a-half years under Brendan Rodgers. Yet, despite that, Lennon deemed him a better option than former Dundee kid Hendry.
Alarm bells, at this stage, must seriously be ringing in Hendry’s head. He hasn’t even been featuring for the reserves, with Marvin Compper instead starring in the second-string.
It leaves Hendry in limbo. He still has over three years left on his Parkhead deal, so there is still plenty of time for him to turn things around.
The time has come for a loan deal
A loan spell this summer must be looked at for him. He clearly isn’t anywhere close to being in the first-team, and it would be more valuable for him to get game-time elsewhere.
Ever since playing and failing to perform in this season’s Champions League qualification campaign, Hendry has been effectively dropped from starting XIs all together. He clearly isn’t favoured anymore, and won’t be getting game-time this season whilst everything remains up for grabs.
Lustig’s inclusion over him, however, is almost an insult for him. It shows how lowly he’s valued by Lennon, and doesn’t bode well for the remainder of the campaign or even next season should Lennon get the job permanently.
Considering Filip Benkovic is now back, and Boyata is still away with Belgium, Hendry can pretty much forget about doing anything else this season. Unless disaster strikes in terms of injuries, he’s likely to be rooted to the sidelines for the foreseeable future.
It’s a damning indictment of his position at Parkhead. When the summer therefore comes, Hendry has to jump at the chance to make an impact elsewhere.
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