The real reason Kasper Schmeichel has been missing from Celtic’s pre-season preparations

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Celtic’s summer pre-season preparations are well under way now.

Over the last few weeks, Celtic have beaten Queen’s Park in Glasgow as Brendan Rodgers gave some of the Hoops youngsters a taste of first-team action.

The Hoops have also beaten Cork City in Ireland and suffered defeat in Portugal as Celtic lost to Estrela da Amadora 3-2.

Fans have been treated to watching some of Celtic’s Academy prospects in the first three summer friendlies, but have been kept in the dark about Kasper Schmeichel’s absence from the pre-season schedule.

Until now.

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Brendan Rodgers tells Celtic fans when Kasper Schmeichel will feature this summer

Schmeichel was a pivotal part of the Celtic first-team that won the Scottish Premiership and the League Cup last season.

And after missing the Bhoys’ first three summer friendlies, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has explained why.

Rodgers told The Scottish Sun, “He’s only met up with us at the beginning of the week.

“So we’ll just get him moving again. He missed Saturday but will be available for the next game.”

The Hoops boss gave the 38-year-old goalkeeper an extended end-of-season break after Schmeichel featured in the Denmark squad in their two summer friendly wins over Northern Ireland and Lithuania.

How Viljami Sinisalo and Ross Doohan fared for Celtic in Kasper Schmeichel’s absence

Schmeichel’s absence meant Ross Doohan earned his Celtic debut against Queen’s Park and Viljami Sinisalo was picked to face Cork City and Estrela da Amadora.

Doohan kept a clean sheet as Celtic beat The Spiders in the 1-0 win at Lesser Hampden as Rodgers got his summer schedule off to a win.

However, the former Aberdeen man conceded against Cork City after a defensive error by Stephen Welsh allowed the League of Ireland side to equalise in the Hoops’ 2-1 win.

Doohan was given another 45 second-half minutes in the defeat to Estrela but couldn’t do much about Jovan Cabral’s 65th minute winner.

Sinisalo was given the first half of Celtic’s win over Cork City and kept a clean sheet as the Irish minnows struggled to get near the Finnish international’s goal.

However, against Estrela, Sinisalo conceded two as Celtic failed to see off the part-time club in the Portuguese heat.

It should be stressed that not too much should be read into these warm-up games but Celtic fans will be keen to see Schmeichel in action for the first time this summer against Sporting Lisbon on the 16th of July.