With the new season just over a week away, the Celtic fans will be excited to see the return of football after what seems like a tortuous seven weeks since the team contested the Scottish Cup Final. Brendan Rodgers has been hard at work over the last four weeks taking the team to Japan and adding fresh faces to the squad.
And now, as the team prepare to face Wolves in Dublin for their third pre-season friendly of the summer, the team have all joined come together for the first training session at Lennoxtown since the arrival of the new summer signings.
Celtic released footage on Twitter of the training session and whilst the video was focused around the arrivals of Hyeokkyu Kwon and Hyunjun Yang, the supporters will be delighted to see the return of two key first-team players in time for the new season ahead.
Sharp-eyed fans will have seen the notable return of defensive duo, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anthony Ralston. Carter-Vickers has been out since he had surgery at the end of last season and Ralston was missing from the team’s trip to Japan with Tomoki Iwata stepping in.
The return of Carter-Vickers is a massive boost to Brendan Rodgers and the team. The US defender’s absence was seriously felt at the end of last season as Yuki Kobayashi struggled to step into his boots.
Tomoki Iwata was preferred for the final three games of the season and whilst he performed relatively well, Carter-Vickers’ return will bring some much-needed stability to the back line.
Ralston’s return is also a huge boost. Just this morning, 67 Hail Hail told how former Celtic hero, Peter Grant was ‘concerned’ at the prospect of starting the new season without a recognised right-back.
But now, with Ralston’s return, we have a full-back who is dependable and has proven to be a good performer for us in that position in the past.
Celtic are set to face Wolves in Dublin this weekend before taking on Athletico Bilbao in James Forrest’s testimonial at Celtic Park. And then it’s onto Flag Day, where the serious business of defending our title begins.
In other news, Kenny Miller’s bizarre claim of 3 Rangers players that would make Celtic’s Treble-winning team
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