Celtic’s Mohamed Elyounoussi started his loan deal with the Hoops brilliantly. The Southampton loanee’s seven goals and six assists in 13 games helped the Hoops produce some excellent football.
However, he suffered a foot injury in November and since then has played only 45 minutes of football. That was in the first-half of the Betfred Cup Final where he looked off the pace, and was replaced at half-time.
After suffering a recurrence of the foot injury, Neil Lennon has revealed that the player is on the road to recovery.
“Elyounoussi is out of the boot now and may train at the start of this week” Lennon said, as quoted by the Herald.
Encouraging news for the Hoops support
The news that Elyounoussi no longer needs to wear the protective boot around his foot is encouraging for the player and the Hoops fans.
The next stage will be his return to training, and with Celtic only a week away from returning to action then Elyounoussi’s potential return has come at the perfect time.
However, the Hoops will not want to rush the player back to the team. He possibly came back too early for the Betfred Cup Final. Neil Lennon won’t make that mistake again.
Reintroduce player to the team gradually
It is arguably better to introduce Elyounoussi back into the team gradually. That gives the player the time to get fully fit and once he is 100% ready he can be back in the starting line-up.
It really will be a boost for Celtic to have a fit Elyounoussi back in the starting line-up. Celtic won games when he was out, but at times they lacked the attacking fluidity he brought to the side.
That was certainly evident in the loss to Rangers before the winter break. He would have made a difference in that game had he been available. Hopefully he will be available sooner rather than later, as Elyounoussi’s return could be a game changer in the title race.
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