Jack Hendry words suggests Celtic departure is on hold

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Jack Hendry’s performance against Partick Thistle may have been brief, but it was certainly a good sign for him.

The former Dundee centre-back has been out of the picture all season at Parkhead. He hasn’t been in a single matchday squad this season before last night. Struggling with a hamstring injury, it looked as though he was out of the picture entirely.

But Neil Lennon threw him a bone last night. He made his first appearance of the season for the final nine minutes of the Partick Thistle rout. And it also comes just over a week since reports were coming out that Hendry was being eyed up by four Portuguese clubs for a loan deal (TEAMtalk).

Since then, there’s been nothing on it. Considering the Portuguese, Scottish and English windows have now closed, there appears to be nothing open for him until January either.

Hendry’s comments post-match certainly hint towards this too. He posted on his official Instagram story that it was great to be back playing and that he was pleased with the result and progression to the semi-finals of the Betfred Cup.

Doesn’t sound like a player who’s heading for the off anytime soon

That move to Portugal seems highly unlikely after Hendry’s comments. He doesn’t sound like a player who’s going to be heading out anytime soon.

Hendry doesn’t seem like a player with his mind elsewhere either. He’s going to want to prove to Neil Lennon that he can have a part to play here. Whether he does or not, that’s debatable, and he also clearly has to turn Lenny’s mind around on him too. A loan move would’ve been beneficial, but it’s off the table for now.

It’s pretty damning that Hendry hasn’t had a single appearance under Lennon before last night. Lenny has now been at the club for seven months. There’s been no reason for Hendry to have been out for this long. But it shows just how lowly he’s been rated at Parkhead by our current boss.

Sure, some of it has been down to injury. But the fact is that Hendry has a reputation to rebuild. Last night meant nothing in terms of his performance. He was only on for under 10 minutes. But it’s a signal that there’s a place for him here if he can knuckle down.

Any move looks like being shelved for now. But how things go between now and January could be a determining factor in whether things stay that way.