Celtic manager Neil Lennon has confirmed that he’ll protect Jozo Simunovic and make sure he isn’t overworked in pre-season.
The Croatian-born defender is currently one half of Celtic’s first-choice centre-back partnership. He and Kristoffer Ajer are the pairing Lennon ended the season with, and with the departures of Dedryck Boyata and Filip Benkovic, Celtic are low on options.
Simunovic has had a poor injury record since signing for Celtic under Ronny Deila. Plastic pitches are a general no-no when it comes to the defender, and Lennon recognises the responsibility he has to protect his star man.
Celtic simply cannot afford any more injuries at the back or else we’re in a defensive crisis. But speaking to the Scottish Sun, Lennon has a plan to make sure Simunovic doesn’t burn out in pre-season.
“We have to manage Jozo. We know with his history he may not be able to do three games in a week and that’s fine.
“We’ve modified his training and it’s something we’ll address as we go along. If needs must, we’ll play him on plastic — but we’ll be careful.”
Protect Jozo at all costs
Any injury to Simunovic would be disastrous. It would likely mean a return to action for Jack Hendry or Marvin Compper. That doesn’t even merit thinking about for now.
Instead, Lennon is looking to make sure Simunovic is monitored appropriately, and that’s the right way to do it. Simunovic has missed months of his Celtic career in the past due to knocks such as various knee injuries and achilles issues have taken their toll on him. He infamously tore his knee ligaments back in 2016, and has struggled to keep fit regularly since.
Arguably, this is the most important time of Simunovic’s career with regards to him staying fit, however.
Of course, we’re all hoping that won’t be the case for long. Celtic will hopefully recruit two further centre-backs before the close of the transfer window in August. If they don’t, however, then Simunovic will be vital to the cause once again.
Celtic have reportedly gone in for Scott McKenna with a £5million bid that was rejected (Scottish Sun). But the club simply needs to show a bit more ambition than that if they’re to make the supporters pleased this summer.
Simunovic is likely the man we’re going to have to turn to in partnering Kristoffer Ajer at the back this summer. It already seems likely he’ll be in for the ties against Sarajevo and (hopefully) the tie against Nomme Kalju or Shkendija.
With his past injury problems, it’s great to see Lennon making sure he has a well-monitored and adapted program of work. In the early stages of the season at least, Simunvic’s fitness is simply vital to our cause.
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