Neil Lennon on Celtic star Scott Sinclair’s game-time

Add as preferred source on Google

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has touched on Scott Sinclair’s game-time or lack of it.

The Englishman has found a first-team spot difficult to nail down this season. He’s failed to start a single match since the start of the campaign, and has only made four substitute appearances out of a possible seven competitive matches.

He’s failed to overcome the challenge of young Mikey Johnston this season, who’s started the campaign on fire. Big-game performances from Johnston combined with the recent renaissance of Lewis Morgan certainly hasn’t helped Sinclair either.

And, speaking in the Scottish Sun, Lenny covered why Sinky hasn’t been playing as much as of late as well as recent transfer interest.

“There was interest but nothing materialised, so we carry on as normal. Scotty will be in the squad and he’s a player who can make a big contribution.

“He’s been unfortunate at the moment that he’s finding it difficult to nail down a place because of the form of others.”

Can Scott Sinclair’s game-time improve over the course of the season?

There may have been reported interest in Sinclair on deadline-day, but nothing came of it. Therefore, we move on with Sinky still a part of the first-team squad.

So analysing his future now – just where do Celtic go with him? It looks seriously unlikely that he’ll ever be a first-team regular again. With his contract running out at the end of the season, there’s no longevity there with Sinclair anymore. Celtic were clearly willing to let him go by omitting him from the squad in Romania. So seeing him get a new contract would be a huge surprise.

Some in the Celtic support, or even many, will still rate him higher than Lewis Morgan. But Morgan is only 22, he’s eight years younger than Sinclair and has plenty of development left in him. If Sinclair is better, and at the moment that’s highly debatable given his form over the last 12 months, it’s not by much. Sticking with a young-gun as back-up to Johnston is the right way to go.

As for Johnston, he just cannot be dropped under any circumstances. He’s Celtic’s golden bhoy. An absolute gem of a find from the academy. He’s been nurtured well at Lennoxtown, and now is the time for him to take the left-wing spot by storm.

Johnston can’t be dropped for anyone

Continuing his development as a first-team regular is essential. He’s at that level, and must be our first-choice by a considerable distance on current form.

So that brings us back to Sinclair. It looks as though we have his services for at least until January. 60 goals over the past three years proves he’s a goal-threat. But his decline has been hugely upsetting from a Celtic perspective.

Perhaps we lucked out with how good he was during that 2016-17 Player of the Year campaign. But even as the English deadline has passed, Sinky’s future in Glasgow hardly looks long-term.