Nir Bitton’s Israel call-up raises a lot more questions than answers as they prepare to play their first World Cup qualifier tonight.
Bitton has become a rather forgotten figure at Lennoxtown over the last few weeks. This is because the centre-back has been out with injury problems for nearly two months.
He was named on the bench against Rangers on Sunday in the Glasgow derby. That’s the first time he’s managed to make a match-day squad since January’s 2-1 home loss to St Mirren. It was in that game against the Buddies that Nir injured his ankled ligaments ans has been unavailable for us.
Thankfully from a Celtic perspective, Stephen Welsh has shone in Bitton’s absence. Alongside Kris Ajer, there’s a major argument to say Stephen should be keeping his place for the foreseeable futures.
But despite all of that, you would’ve expected Celtic to be stronger with regards to Bitton’s availability for Israel. A player who hasn’t played for two months due to injury is allowed to head around Europe with his national team for a triple-header?
It’s not as if Israel manager Willi Ruttensteiner has shown much care about Bitton’s injury problems in the past. Neil Lennon was left fuming with him back in October for calling Bitton up despite his foot having swollen up [Daily Record].
Israel boss Willi Ruttensteiner has failed to show much sympathy with Celtic in the past
Ruttensteiner didn’t seem to show much empathy for the Hoops. He went on to feature Bitton for 120 minutes in a Euro 2020 playoff match against Scotland. Nir would then test positive for Covid and would miss several big matches for Celtic.
But the worrying point is that Israel played him whilst he was supposed to be injured. That he wasn’t deemed ready for action by Lennon yet was clearly ignored by the Israel manager.
Bitton hasn’t played for two months and ideally would be gradually integrated back into games again. In an ideal world, Celtic would’ve informed Israel that he was still working his way back from injury and couldn’t make it. Regardless of how Bitton felt about it.
There’s no guarantee Israel are going to use him sensibly this week. Not with Ruttensteiner having previous in dismissing the Hoops’ injury diagnosis.
Israel will host Denmark tonight before matches against Scotland and Israel over the next seven days. Bitton’s inclusion in them would hardly be surprising. And it would be even less surprising if he aggravates an injury in doing so.
But as things stand, mystery surrounds just how fit he is.
In other news, a Liverpool superstar has bigged up a “committed” Celtic managerial candidate.
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