Ange Postecoglou issues update on Christopher Jullien Celtic return

By John McGinley

August 15, 2021

Ange Postecoglou says Christopher Jullien is working hards towards making a Celtic return, but is still rehabilitating on an individual training programme.

Jullien was in the stands at Celtic Park today to watch the Bhoys beat Hearts in the Scottish League Cup.

Another defensive error no doubt brought the Frenchman to the forefront of many supporters minds.

Helpful then that the manager was asked about the situation pre-match by BBC report Kenny Macintyre.

Postecoglou told BBC Sportsound [14:39]: “He’s working hard. He’s still very much on an individual programme.

“We have to be careful with these long-term injuries. We want to get him back as best we can and for him to feel really comfortable.

“He’s still got a bit of rehab to do so it’ll be a little while before we see him, but we can’t wait to get him back.”

It’s all aligning with Jullien making a return in September or October, which is actually the initial prognosis from Neil Lennon at the start of the year.

The Celtic medical staff obviously won’t want to rush him back too quickly and risk a further setback, as Postecoglou says.

For me, we could be doing with signing another centre-half. We simply don’t know if Jullien’s return will go smoothly or how long he’ll take to get up to speed. We can’t risk going half a season without another viable first-team option beyond Stephen Welsh and Carl Starfelt.

In recent months we’ve been linked with talents such as Ko Itakura of Manchester City. He’s recently completed a stint at the Olympics, so there should be no barrier to that move. However, there have been no real updates on the position of late.

Let’s get cracking, Celtic.

In other news, Ange Postecoglou “very, very confident” of more Celtic signings soon.