Andrew Gutman to return to Celtic imminently

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Andrew Gutman has revealed that he will return to Celtic imminently for around a month of training.

The American defender, who is currently in the midst of a loan spell at FC Cincinnati, will make his way back to Scotland following the end of the MLS season. His side had a campaign to forget – finishing bottom of the Eastern Conference after taking just 24 points from 34 matches.

Gutman has been a regular for the club since joining in August, but is showing no signs of letting up during the American close season.

“Right now, I’m planning on going back to Celtic and training for a month until around December,” he told the FC Cincinnati website in an exclusive interview.

“After that I’ll take a few weeks off to hang around with my family.

“They’re definitely in-season but they have such a big squad. So the guys that aren’t in the squad for the games will have training sessions.

“I’ll have a good stint of training with them just to get back in front of their faces and show them my qualities again. It will be good.”

What chance does Gutman have of making an impact at Celtic?

Gutman won’t have a chance to feature for Neil Lennon’s men during his time in Scotland. His time will instead be spent entirely on the training pitch as he prepares for next season with Cincinnati.

It’s difficult to judge just how much of an impact Gutman can make at Parkhead once he eventually moves back. He’ll be behind Boli Bolingoli and Greg Taylor for a start. The fact that we shelled out around £3million each on that pair suggests that the American will have his work cut out displacing either of them from the team, but the chance will still be there for him.

Nobody is sure whether he’s a player or a dud because we simply haven’t seen him play – properly at least. However, he is getting regular game time at a half-decent level at present so that can only bode well for the future.

It’s good to see that he is committed to making the cut at Celtic. It would have been easy for him to take a break following the end of the MLS season. The fact he wants to dart back to Scotland and impress Neil Lennon bodes well for the future.