Celtic’s Chris Jullien has flown back home to France to continue his treatment, the Scottish Sun reports.
The towering centre-back has been out of action since damaging knee ligaments in December. Celtic have had plenty of problems in defence this season, with Jullien missing for almost four months of it so far.
And the Sun has reported that he’s now checked into the Clairefontaine medical centre to continue his recovery process. They also state that he’s scheduled to be out for a further two months.
This means the former Toulouse star is effectively fighting to be fit before the end of the season in May. Whether he can have any real influence now, even if he does return, is highly debatable.
Jullien provided an Instagram update on his condition earlier this week. In a grim sight for Celtic fans, he was still in crutches. He did, however, get some words of support from Ismaila Soro.
Chris Jullien heading to France doesn’t suggest a swift return
We all knew that Jullien still had a period of time to go before his recovery. But the fact he’s heading back home suggests there’ll be no swift return for him. No early comeback that bolsters our ranks between now and the next couple of months.
As things stand, Jullien will definitely miss next month’s Glasgow derby against Rangers. He’ll also likely miss out on the final one too which will take place after the split.
His primary goal at the moment shouldn’t be on current events at Parkhead however. Even if he did return, it would be disruptive to remove the partnership between Stephen Welsh and Kris Ajer. Bringing back a player who’s been out for four-five months would make little sense.
Albeit, Jullien’s influence on Celtic is indeed clear to see. He’s played in nine league matches this season and won seven of them. Interestingly, five have ended with clean sheets and the other four have seen the opposition only net one goal [Transfermarkt].
He’ll also likely be part of our first-choice centre-back pairing for next season. The athletic Frenchman looks like the ideal partnership for Welsh to continue his development with.
Even more reason then for him to focus only on his recovery. The Hoops can crack on between now and the summer with the options they have.
In other news, a new Celtic fan campaign has published their first video today.
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