Celtic’s Conor Hazard misses out on international call-up to remain with loan side

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On-loan Celtic goalkeeper Conor Hazard has missed out on a call-up for the Northern Ireland international duty due to ‘club commitments’.

The 24-year old is currently spending the season with Finnish Champions HJK Helsinki, who currently sit 2nd place in the league.

He has enjoyed a solid start to the season, which kicked off at the beginning of April, keeping four clean sheets in his first nine games between the sticks.

Over the last few years, Hazard has become a regular name in the Northern Ireland squad, with his previous call-up coming at the end of March.

Due to his lack of first-team minutes, though, Hazard is seen as either the second or third choice goalkeeper in Ian Baraclough’s squad.

With that in mind, the Celtic loanee looks to have taken the decision to miss out on the up-and-coming international fixtures after he was left out of the 28-man squad.

In a statement released on the Northern Ireland website, they confirmed eight players from the last-named squad had missed out on this occasion due to ‘a mixture of club commitments, injury or fatigue’ – Hazard being one of the names on that list.

With the shot-stopper currently not having any injury issues and preparing for the league fixtures to come in Finland, it appears that he has decided to focus on club matters.

Hazard will miss out on four fixtures for his country as they prepare for their opening games of the UEFA Nations League, which could have included a potential match-up against Celtic teammate Giorgos Giakoumakis and Greece.

Focus on regular minutes for Hazard.

Although Hazard was given a very short run in the side last season, including the Scottish Cup final win over Hearts, it was far from the ideal scenario for the young goalkeeper.

With HJK Helsinki, he has been able to get regular first-team minutes for the first time in several years, which was precisely what he needed at this stage of his career.

It seems unlikely that Hazard will make it back at Celtic. However, a good spell out in Finland could have a significant impact in gaining him his next move, leading to more minutes internationally.

So, it seems like a sensible call from the on-loan Celtic player to choose club over country at this moment in time.

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