Anxious fans are desperate to see their Portuguese hero back on the turf, while Johnston’s return to action has been delayed
Crocked Celtic duo Alistiar Johnston and Jota(Image: SNS Group)
Martin O’Neill has revealed Alistair Johnston has suffered a Celtic injury setback – as he quelled fears over Jota’s career.
Hoops defender Johnston, 27, has been sidelined since October with a hamstring tear but returned to full training last month. He was granted permission to train with Canada over the international break ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
O’Neill hoped to have the right-back available before the split but says his comeback has been delayed after picking up a knock.
He said: ”Alistair has had a wee bit of a setback. He went away with the Canadian national side, was doing some running and had a bit of a setback on his final day training which was really disconcerting for us.
“In the wider scheme of things, for the length of time he’s been out, hopefully it’s not too bad.
“But it has delayed things a little bit here. We were hoping to have him, I’m not saying for this weekend, but we were hoping to have him in a couple of weeks, maybe having played some bounce games.
“That will just have to be parked and put to the side for the moment. It’s a shame. He went with the national side and was only ever going to do little bits of training which is all he did.
“If we’d had a full quota of players here then he’d have stayed with us. We felt there might be a benefit of being away with the national side, just in a different environment as he hadn’t met up with them for some time.
“Obviously they’ve got the World Cup and he’s big player for them. So, we all felt it was the best idea. It was only on the final day that he felt a bit of a niggle.”
O’Neill – who could welcome back Arne Engels for Sunday’s trip to Dens Park – a lso assured worried fans that Jota’s career is not under threat.
The Portuguese winger has been out since last April with an ACL tear and will play no part in the run-in. But O’Neill played down concerns that the 27-year-old is fighting to save his career.
Julian Araujo
O’Neill said: ”He’s been out for a long time. In his rehab, he’s had a couple of setbacks. I had a conversation with him about where he is with all of this. He had a consultation with a surgeon down in London a few days ago. He’s come back.
“Just when he thinks he’s going great, he gets a bit of a setback; it’s just the length of time that you’re out.
“These types of injuries, you think it’s straightforward, sometimes they’re not and you’re stopped in your tracks when you think you’re going well.
“I would be hoping that whoever is going to be in charge of the football, that Jota would be ready for pre-season. That’s what I would be hoping for. It has been a fairly lengthy time.
“No concerns, not in a career-threatening way. These sorts of injuries, in my day, were career-threatening because they were unusual in the sense that not many surgeons in Britain were doing them.
“But as we found out, in America, because of the games they play, they were like ten a penny and there were lots of great surgeons. “Now, there are lots of phenomenal surgeons all over, not just in Britain, in Ireland and in Europe now.
“I don’t see this as being a career-threatening injury. If Celtic fans are worried because of the length of time he’s taken, I’d try and assure them that he will recover from this.”
Meanwhile O’Neill confirmed Colby Donovan should be in contention to face Dundee after recovering from a knock at Tannadice.
On-loan full-back Julian Araujo is still receiving treatment at Bournemouth but O’Neill expects the Mexican to be fit in the coming weeks.
He added: “I do yeah. He’s doing fine and recovering. The physios are obviously keeping in touch with Bournemouth but we expect to see him back in the not-so-distant future.”