There was a surprising addition to Celtic’s training session on Friday morning. Neil Lennon’s side are still in early pre-season mode as they gear up for their training camp in Austria.
The majority of the squad trained and there were a couple of interesting observations, as reported by the Daily Record.
Yes, Leigh Griffiths looks fit and healthy and Marvin Compper is back for another shot at trying to get into the first team.
However, the biggest surprise from training was the man standing right beside the German.
January signing Andrew Gutman is back at Celtic and training with the first-team squad. The American is yet to kick a ball for the club and is currently meant to be out on at Charlotte Independence. So it was a real surprise to see him in the green of Celtic.
Have Celtic recalled Gutman?
Gutman’s appearance is a puzzling one. Independence are due to play their next USC match on Sunday night when they travel to Louisville so it seems bizarre for Gutman to be back in Scotland.
The full-back clearly doesn’t have any injury worries, otherwise he wouldn’t have been training. Perhaps Celtic just want to take a look at him ahead of the new season.
Last week, Gutman’s loan side sacked former Celtic coach Jim McGuinness after a nightmare start in the USL Championship. Given the connection between him and Celtic, we can only assume that he was a big part in getting Gutman to the club.
Perhaps his departure has also had an effect and cut the loan deal short. Time will tell whether Gutman’s appearance was just a one off or whether he is here to stay.
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