Ange Postecoglou has been dealt a big injury blow regarding Celtic centre-forward Johnny Kenny.
What’s the latest?
According to a report by The Scottish Sun, the 18-year-old was taken off on a stretcher after colliding with Matthew Cox in the 35th minute of England U19’s 3-1 victory over the Republic of Ireland U19s on Wednesday evening.
The report goes on to state that the striker had only recently returned to Celtic training after recovering from a previous knock, however, after his latest setback while on international duty, the Irishman now appears set for another spell on the sidelines.
Postecoglou will be fuming
Despite Kenny being yet to make a single appearance for Celtic since his £125k arrival at Parkhead in the January transfer window, the teenager sustaining yet another injury will nevertheless have left Ange Postecoglou fuming.
Indeed, shortly after the centre-forward’s signing, the 56-year-old Bhoys boss appeared to be extremely excited at the prospect of working with the youngster, stating:
“Johnny is one that we’ve been tracking for a while through our scouts over in Ireland. It was one that was put to us, and put to me in the summer window.
“We’ve been tracking his progress. We like what we’ve seen in terms of his development so far. He’s already had a year of senior football and he has some really good attributes.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to bring him in during this window, with the League of Ireland finishing over there. We took advantage of that, and after the discussions with him, he was keen to come across.
“He’s one that our scouting department has been tracking for quite a while. But he’s only 18, and we’re trying to bring in players who we feel we need right now.
“But we’re also not discounting the fact that we need to look a bit further ahead. Once he settles, he’ll start training with us and then he’ll settle in. Hopefully he can make an impact over the next year or so.”
As such, the fact that the 18-year-old has picked up yet another injury will undoubtedly disrupt the young striker’s development at Parkhead, something that will only lengthen the amount of time it takes before Kenny is ready to feature regularly for the Hoops first-team.
It’s safe to say the Australian has not had the greatest of luck when it comes to offensive players this term with Kyogo Furuhashi and Giorgos Giakoumakis spending plenty of time on the treatment table too.
Furthermore, considering the sheer amount of potential the player who bagged 11 goals over 32 League of Ireland appearances last season clearly possesses, this latest setback is something that will certainly come as a great annoyance to Postecoglou.
AND in other news: Celtic handed huge boost as starlet now set to reject PL move, Ange will be buzzing