Celtic defender Maik Nawrocki was hoping for a strong pre-season period with the club to prepare for the coming campaign but it didn’t quite work out like that.
He rebuffed early transfer interest from old club Legia to fight for his place in the squad and was one of the first back to Lennoxtown training.
Named in the starting eleven for the first friendly away to Ayr United, the centre-back limped out of the match after 20 minutes with a calf complaint.
He subsequently missed the game against Queen’s Park and then the entire USA tour, not involved at all on the trip as he recovered.
However, there’s better news on Friday after he was spotted back involved in training ahead of this weekend’s match against Kilmarnock.
Maik Nawrocki returns to the Celtic fold ahead of Kilmarnock
Photo agency SNS snapped the defender as part of the group session at Lennoxtown, apparently having overcome the injury.
Thankfully it hasn’t kept him out of action for too long and, despite now playing catch-up with his fitness, he can again compete for a spot in Rodgers’ team.
Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales remain the prime picks in the centre of defence. That’s unlikely to change, for now, but Nawrocki can make a renewed push behind the scenes.
Celtic defence could be strengthened further
Gustaf Lagerbielke and Yuki Kobayashi aren’t thought to have big futures are Celtic so there could be a fair amount of turnover in talent at centre-back.
Reports indicate that the club are aiming to strengthen the position before the end of August, with Dara O’Shea the primary link, so Nawrocki could find it even more difficult to get game time in 2024/25 after just 13 appearances in his debut season.
Whether that results in his own transfer exit remains to be seen but, for now, he’ll be focused on getting himself back to full fitness and catching the eye of Rodgers.
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