Norway manager Lars Lagerback has provided an update on Kristoffer Ajer’s situation after the Celtic star did indeed travel to his homeland for international duty.
On Sunday against Motherwell, Ajer picked up a recurrence of the groin strain which kept him out of games against Aberdeen and Sparta Prague last week. The centre-back had to come off after initially trying to battle on with the knock.
Neil Lennon gave his own verdict post-match on the injury, as he said as quoted by the Daily Record: “He felt it at half-time and battled on with it, but he couldn’t continue. He will be a doubt for Norway, I would imagine.”
But Ajer has taken the journey back to Norway to be assessed instead of staying in Glasgow, and international coach Lagerback has provided an update on the current state of play.
As quoted by Norwegian outlet VG, he said: “We do not know for sure (whether he will play this week). We have only had oral contact so far. We do not know how serious it is. He is not completely negative (about the situation) himself, but he could not play a game today at least (in training).”
No risks can be taken – Celtic must stress that to Norwegian FA
Given that Ajer wasn’t able to take part ina bounce game during training, it’s difficult to see him making any sort of appearance for Norway against Israel tomorrow. That contest is only a friendly too, so common sense should prevail.
However, all eyes will be on Sunday’s Nations League trip to Romania before another away-day in Austria a week tomorrow. Those are the fixtures Lagerback will want Ajer to be fit for, and you can expect this to be a touch-and-go saga right up until the weekend.
Yet it’s clear that Ajer isn’t in great shape at the moment judging by Lagerback’s update on Monday’s training session. Therefore, Celtic simply must be stressing to the Norwegian FA the importance of no risks being taken.
Remember, Celtic have an absolutely hectic schedule between now and the end of 2020. Add that to the fact that we don’t look solid at the back whatsoever without Ajer in the team, then it’s imperative that he comes back from Norway fully healed from his groin strain.
Unfortunately, Norway’s next two games after the Israel ones are huge for them. They’re sitting joint-top with Austria at the summit of their Nations League group, meaning they’ll be looking t secure back-to-back wins and bag themselves a World Cup playoff spot for Qatar 2022.
So don’t expect too many favours from Norway regarding Ajer’s injury situation. All we can do as supporters is hope nothing is aggravated ahead of a massive period in the club’s season.
In other news, another international coach has been wowed by a Celtic bench-warmer’s ability.
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