Martin O’Neill has praised Junior Adamu’s form in Celtic training after reintroducing him to the squad against St Mirren.
The Austrian hadn’t even made the bench for the Hoops’ last two fixtures, falling behind Tomas Cvancara and Kelechi Iheanacho in the pecking order.
However, Cvancara’s form has now fallen off a cliff in recent weeks, and Adamu has pounced on the opportunity to return to the squad.
However, he remained an unused substitute on Sunday.
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Martin O’Neill says Junior Adamu ‘trained really, really strongly’ ahead of Celtic vs St Mirren
Asked about the shake-ups made in the matchday squad, the 74-year-old said: “We did a bit of rotating for the semi-final.
“It wasn’t phenomenal rotating but I felt Junior has trained really, really strongly.
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“So that’s it. Listen, people have to fight for positions in the team.”
Much like his fellow Deadline Day arrival, Joel Mvuka, one of Adamu’s major motivations behind his Celtic move is the chance to hit form before the World Cup in the summer.
This hasn’t worked out particularly well for either of them, with the striker failing to kick on after scoring on his debut against Dundee.
Kasper Schmeichel’s Celtic career is widely viewed as over, with the goalkeeper expected to leave the club at the end of his contract to focus on a lengthy road to recovery.
O’Neill said of Schmeichel. “He is still contracted to the club, yes.
“There are some medical decisions to be made on whether he’s to get this operation. I will know more about that in the middle of the week.
“But I have been speaking to the medical staff who were telling me he was going to see a specialist.
Should Kasper Schmeichel be accepting work on matchdays when Celtic are playing?
“He may even have done that by now as that was last midweek. But I don’t know whether the specialist wants to do this operation or not.
“That was the last news I got but I’ll know more this midweek.”
Viljami Sinisalo is now operating as the team’s first-choice goalkeeper. Whether or not this remains the case next season remains to be seen.
Evidence of Schmeichel’s injury has been evident for much of the season, though it wasn’t until he was informed of the requirement for surgery that he came out of the team.
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