Celtic defender Jack Hendry still hasn’t appeared in a Neil Lennon squad

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One of the current members of the Celtic squad appears to have been totally frozen out – Jack Hendry.

The centre-back has yet to make a single match-day squad appearance since Neil Lennon became the manager. That also comes after failing to play in any of Brendan Rodgers’ last four months in charge.

Indeed, Hendry’s last outing for the Hoops came back in November 2018. The 3-0 Betfred Cup semi-final win over Hearts remains the last time he was spotted in green-and-white.

Make no mistake, that’s for good reason. Hendry has made a variety of positional mistakes since arriving at Parkhead in January 2018. He was thrown in at the deep end during the Champions League qualifiers earlier on this term, but struggled in a poor showing against AEK Athens over two legs.

And, after seven matches in charge, Lennon hasn’t even seen fit to put him on the bench.

Lennon has even selected the likes of Mikael Lustig at centre-back over giving Hendry a shot. Therefore, it’s clear that there’s not a lot of trust being put in the former Dundee star.

No game-time at any level for Hendry

Interestingly, Celtic haven’t even been featuring Hendry in the reserves either. Instead, the likes of Marvin Compper, Wallace Duffy, and Robbie Deas have been playing at the back instead of him. That’s an interesting occurrence considering that Hendry isn’t getting game-time.

At this stage, it’s looking like a good idea to just cut our losses with the defender. If Celtic can get any sort of fee this summer for Hendry, it’s worth taking.

He cost the Hoops £1.5million from the Dee last year, and there’s no way we’re getting that back on him.

Considering the toughness and importance of the fixtures we have between now and the end of the season, he can surely forget a return to the first-team this term too. Lennon hasn’t shown any trust in him so far, and therefore you wouldn’t expect him to do so before the end of the season.

Not getting into match-day squads at either first-team or reserve level is a damning indictment. It shows just how far down the pecking order the defender is.

At 23-years of age, it’s vital he goes out and grabs some game-time. Be it a loan move or a permanent one, Celtic need to just get him out of the door for his own sake.