Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney will face a late fitness test to face Valencia in the Europa League.

The fan favourite will sit out Saturday’s tie with Airdie and St Mirren before being assessed.

The Scottish Sun report that a hip problem is what is keeping the Scot from first-team football.

However, if an extended period out is the result, a replacement must be sought.

Tierney injury result of his own commitment

The boyhood fan is running through brick walls for his club and playing through many games as he can.

This has meant playing through niggly injuries which has put him out of future matches.

Tierney’s last appearance was against Red Bull Salzburg in December’s Europa League tie.

In Dubai, Tierney was in the rehab camp away from the fit first team.

Without Tierney in the team for Valencia, Brendan Rodgers will need to turn to back-up left-back Emilio Izaguirre or Jonny Hayes.

The Celtic board must fund a replacement full-back, even if continuing the six month loan trend.

Celtic full-back crises extends to the left side

The Hoops are already on the hunt for a right-back and aren’t far along on that.

Mikael Lustig isn’t convincing fans this season and he has no back-ups properly pushing him.

On the left, Tierney’s back-up Izaguirre, like Lustig, isn’t cutting it unlike when they both joined the club.

Ireland international Hayes moonlighted towards the end of the year on the left but this was only to fill a gap.

Now with an important European tie to face in February and a title race on our hands, Rodgers must make sure Celtic have enough recruits in these important areas.

The manager and board must make sure they don’t make the same mistakes when it comes to acquiring full-backs.

Failure to do so could mean embarrassing the club in Europe and on the domestic front.

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