Hatem Abd Elhamed’s progress on the injury front is clearly going well after today’s latest reveal.
According to the Daily Record, Neil Lennon has taken the decision to add him to the Champions League squad. The squad submitted today is only for the third qualifying round. Should Celtic make more signings after this qualifier, they can feature in the playoff round.
But as for Elhamed, today’s news must be confirmation his injury isn’t long or even medium-term. The defender came off against St Johnstone with what Lenny would later describe as a dead leg (Celtic TV).
He was replaced by Anthony Ralston, and the quality down the right definitely dipped because of it. Ralston failed to make any sort of impact, and was a clear downgrade on the Israeli.
Of course, what’s key to mention here is that this doesn’t confirm Elhamed will be fit for Wednesday. This is also the squad that will compete in the second leg at Celtic Park next week too.
What it does show, however, is that Lennon clearly feels Elhamed will be fine within the next week. We’ll likely get an official update from the manager at the pre-match press conference.
Losing Elhamed wouldn’t be in the script for Wednesday night
Elhamed’s inclusion this week is pretty essential to our hopes. It’s clear that Lennon felt a new right-back was needed before the Champions League qualifiers got more intense. Now that things have cranked up a level, we need our best players fit.
Having to play with Kristoffer Ajer at right-back or indeed Ralston isn’t ideal. It would be massively hard luck on Celtic, but at the same time, we should have two new right-backs in by now in case this happened.
The big games just keep coming for Lenny’s Bhoys. Elhamed will play a big part in most of them if he stays fit. Having him available for Wednesday, however, is perhaps most important of all.
His inclusion in the Champions League squad is at least further proof that he won’t be out for very long. Lenny hasn’t commented on the squad as of yet.
It’s fair to say a nervy night lies ahead in Romania. But with a bit of luck Elhamed will be right at the centre of it.
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