{"id":674702,"date":"2026-11-04T12:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674702\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T12:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:30:12","slug":"celtic-handed-fitness-boost-as-star-returns-from-injury-to-feature-in-b-team-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674702\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtic handed fitness boost as star returns from injury to feature in B team defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celtic<\/a> have received a fitness boost in the form of Joel van der Berg<\/a>, who has spent more than a month out with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

The midfielder arrived at Parkhead on a late summer deal worth around \u00a33.4million from PSV Eindhoven and is thought of as a talent for the future, still only 19 years of age, but it’s not out of the question that he gets game time over the coming weeks in months given the trouble Celtic have had finding their best football.<\/p>\n

The first challenge for Van der Berg is to get back to full fitness, and he took a step towards that on Tuesday night by representing Celtic B in a 2-0 defeat to Ross County in the Challenge Cup. <\/p>\n

It is the first minutes Van der Berg has had in a green and white shirt, yet to play at all for the first team due to a combination of selection factors and his injury, which he suffered in training before the first international break.<\/p>\n

Celtic also took the opportunity to give playing time to young loan stars Shim Mheuka and Landon Emenalo, who have found game time hard to come by, albeit the latter has only recently returned from injury himself.<\/p>\n

Both Van der Berg and Emenalo were omitted from Celtic’s Europa League squad, so they would not be available to play against Besiktas on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Emenalo does have a chance of getting minutes this season due to the fact Celtic have no back-up for Kieran Tierney, although Liam Scales and Jordan Lotomba can both play out of position on the left if needs be.<\/p>\n

Van der Berg is a box-to-box midfielder, and you do wonder whether he could offer something different given how much Celtic have struggled in midfield. But the early indications suggest that Celtic don’t expect the Dutchman to be of starter quality just yet.<\/p>\n

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