Could suspensions see a return to Celtic squad for Jack Hendry?

Add as preferred source on Google

Could Jack Hendry’s reprieve be handed to him this Saturday against St Johnstone?

A start for the former Dundee centre-back is surely out of the question. He hasn’t even been part of a single match-day squad this season. In fact, Hendry hasn’t been in a Lennon squad since March.

His last appearance in a squad list was at home to Aberdeen in Premiership action last season. It was only Lennon’s third game of his caretaker spell. Funnily enough, it was also Hendry’s third straight selection on the bench too. Lenny had given him back-up roles against Hearts and Hibs in his first two games in charge.

But that was to be it for Hendry. He was dropped for the next match at Dundee, and he hasn’t featured in a single squad since. Since Lennon’s appointment, the Scotland international hasn’t even had a single minute of action on the pitch.

He did feature in pre-season, but hasn’t made any of the four squads so far in competitive action. Lennon did say at the start of July that Hendry had picked up a knock in training (Scottish Sun). Since then, however, there’s been nothing on his return.

But the suspensions of Christopher Jullien and Jozo Simunovic will surely hand him some sort of reprieve.

Will Saturday see Jack Hendry’s chance handed to him?

As it stands, we only have one fit and available centre-back for Saturday. Kristoffer Ajer will likely start against St Johnstone, and Nir Bitton appears most likely to be his partner. Bitton, naturally a midfielder, has been a surprise choice ahead of Hendry in pre-season, but he now looks the natural replacement for Jullien and Simunovic.

But there’s then the problem of the bench. We definitely have no alternatives outside of Hendry, so it must be the case that he gets handed a squad role once again this weekend.

Anthony Ralston is available, but he certainly doesn’t look like he has the attributes to play centre-back.

Lennon could perhaps put Ralston at right-back and shift Hatem Abd Elhamed into centre-back. But why rock the boat? Elhamed has been signed to play right-back, and that’s exactly where he should start.

If all things run smoothly, we could see Hendry make a surprising return to the squad for the first time in five months. Don’t expect him to get minutes on the pitch unless there’s an injury, however.