What are Celtic’s plans for Christopher Jullien?

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Christopher Jullien’s game-time is becoming a slight concern after being overlooked yet again last night.

Neil Lennon can’t be faulted for our result in Romania yesterday. It was a fantastic 1-1 draw to take away from Cluj. And, in addition to that, it was done via a solid defensive performance that shut down Cluj’s attacking threats.

Lenny decided to go with the partnership of Jozo Simunovic and Kristoffer Ajer last night. There’s nothing wrong with either of them. They’re two extremely talented centre-backs, and both put in fine shifts at a tough venue.

But once again, we spotted Jullien on the bench for Celtic. The same Jullien we splashed out £7million for to sign him from Toulouse (Scottish Sun). Sure, he came on for the final 15 minutes, but it was another omission from the starting line-up.

Strengthening for the qualifiers?

When we were strengthening our squad over the summer, it was done with a view to strengthening for the qualifiers. That’s what we aim to do every year – we make sure we have our big signing targets in and ready to participate in our Champions League qualifying campaign.

Yet, so far, Jullien has played around 105 minutes out of a possible 450. Those minutes came against Nomme Kalju in what was effectively a glorified friendly given we had wiped the floor with them 5-0 at Parkhead, and the closing stages of last night.

It’s not as if the big man hasn’t been available for the other qualifying matches either. Jullien has been in the squad for the rest of them, but as an unused substitute.

The competition is getting serious, and you would’ve hoped that big Jullien would’ve been ready by now. After all, he’s looked sharp and solid in his two appearances for the Hoops so far.

Jullien’s first match for us came almost four weeks ago against Rennes in a Celtic Park friendly. Surely at this point he’s up to speed.

Will Christopher Jullien’s game-time increase this weekend?

There’s nothing going about on any injury problems with the former Toulouse man. He showed against Kalju last week that he’s clearly ready to play regularly.

So then it bodes the question just when will Lenny integrate him in? And it should be a case of when, not if. If we spend £7m on a centre-back, he has to be better than what we already have. Lennon has already confirmed that Jullien was signed to be a first-choice defender too (Daily Record), so there’s no reason for him to continue sitting out.

Saturday at Fir Park could represent a fine opportunity for the centre-back to see more game-time. He has more than enough quality to deal with the likes of Devante Cole and James Scott. He’s already shown he can play for 90 minutes too, so there should be no question marks about his fitness levels.

We all know why he missed last weekend’s victory over St Johnstone. An unfortunate suspension carried over from his Ligue 1 days was put into effect. But that’s now over and done with, and he has to feature this weekend.

Lenny was perhaps using both Simunovic and Ajer because it’s a partnership that has already been developed and tested. A case of perhaps not rocking the boat was put into effect because of the enormity of the Cluj game.

But now is the time to unleash the big Frenchman. Simunovic’s suspension will continue against Motherwell this Saturday. Jullien, meanwhile, is clearly fit and ready to go. If he doesn’t start this weekend over Nir Bitton, then concerns will rise.