Celtic defender Stephen Welsh missed last weekend’s 5-0 win over Kilmarnock as he continued to recover from a virus.
The 22-year-old started the campaign as part of the Hoops back four after featuring regularly alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers in pre-season.
And the defender couldn’t have kicked off his season any better, keeping a clean sheet and scoring in the opening day victory against Aberdeen at Celtic Park.
However, after his positive start, Welsh, unfortunately, found himself back out of the Celtic squad, being replaced by new signing Mortiz Jenz in the starting 11.
There was also no place on the bench for the Scotland under-21 internationalist during the trip to Ross County, with Carl Starfelt marking his return from injury.
At first, the reasoning behind Welsh’s absence was unknown. However, Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou quickly revealed that he did not travel to the highlands due to illness.
The Celtic academy graduate continued to recover last week, only making a gradual return to training towards the back end of the week.
Postecoglou confirmed that the defender was slowly getting back to work at Lennoxtown, and a decision on whether he would be available for Sunday’s visit to Rugby Park would be made at a later time, with many fans potentially expecting to see him back amongst the squad.
Subsequently, Welsh was once again left out, as three of Postecoglou’s senior central defenders went on to feature during the emphatic 5-0 win on Sunday.
As reported by Football Scotland, the reasoning for Welsh’s absence was due to him continuing to recover from a virus, and the game against Kilmarnock came just too soon for him.
However, the report also states that the centre-back has since returned to full training with his teammates, suggesting that he should be available for the Bhoys’ home fixture against Hearts this weekend.
Ange Postecoglou has a tough decision on his hands as to which central defender should start.
Having been forced off early in the game last weekend, we are still waiting to see whether Moritz Jenz will have recovered in time to be back in contention.
However, with Carl Starfelt and Welsh now fully back in training and ready to go again, Ange Postecoglou has a tough decision on his hands as to which defensive pairing he will go with.
I am sure it will be a selection headache the 56-year-old is loving to have, though, after facing injury issues to his back four and points last campaign.
With this Celtic side’s current confidence levels being so high, you would imagine it doesn’t really matter which central defensive duo he selects; the players will be ready to perform and give their all for the team.
It will be good to see Stephen Welsh mark his return to the squad after making such a good start to the campaign and, unfortunately, missing out on the last two games.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou lauds impressive element of Celtic’s attacking play.
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