Jullien and Griffiths give boss a headache ahead of Sarajevo return leg
CELTIC assistant John Kennedy last night confirmed that both Christopher Jullien and Leigh Griffiths are in contention to make their first competitive appearances of the season against FK Sarajevo on Wednesday.
Jullien, the club’s £7million summer signing from Toulouse, made a club debut in yesterday’s pre-season friendly against Rennes and largely strolled through the draw in central defence.
Griffiths, too, was making his first appearance at Parkhead in 2019 after a prolonged absence to deal with personal issues. He looked sharp before his late substitution for Odsonne Edouard.
While Edouard remains firmly top of the pecking order, Kennedy admitted manager Neil Lennon is keen to restore Griffiths to frontline duties quickly, especially as his only other striking option, Vakoun Issouf Bayo, remains sidelined.
Jullien was signed as a first-choice operator and with Celtic holding a 3-1 advantage over Sarajevo from the first leg in Bosnia, both are likely to see game time this midweek.
‘Chris had a longer period off than our guys and arrived late in camp too,’ said Kennedy. ‘He is a big guy and takes a bit of time to get going when his fitness is down. But in terms of where he was when he came in and where he is now, we are seeing a big difference.
‘We will keep working on that but he has a game under his belt now and he comes into contention.
‘I’m delighted for Leigh. We’re a bit light at that end of the pitch, so it’s important he keeps building.
‘He’s done really well in preseason, he’s trained every minute of every session which was a challenge for him after a period out, but he got through the hardest part and now we’re starting to see more of what he’s all about.
‘He’s playing off the shoulder, looking sharp, pressing — he tailed off a bit towards the end but the game will put him in good stead. He will be in contention for Wednesday.’
With summer signing Luca Connell also making his first appearance at Celtic Park there was plenty of intrigue for the home fans, even if the game was a typically pedestrian pre-season affair.
Some glimpses of Griffiths’ old devilment returned, be it in the nutmegging of a defender or the berating of a team-mate as both Connell and goalkeeper Craig Gordon found to their cost.
The hosts finished the day with an entirely new XI afield and the only real incident of note was the sight of Scott Sinclair contriving to miss inside the six-yard box after a pickout from Ewan Henderson.
Edouard almost clinched it but his shot was cleared off the line.
Kennedy confirmed that Nir Bitton, a starter alongside Jullien at centre-back, had taken a knock in the first half and also praised the contribution of Lewis Morgan.
He added: ‘Lewis did what we wanted on Wednesday and today again he was bright.
‘Nir took a knock on his knee and twisted slightly but it doesn’t appear to be anything too serious.’
Kennedy also revealed the club remains hopeful of fending off interest from Bayern Munich to retain 16-year-old Liam Morrison, saying: ‘We’re trying to sign Liam on a professional contract. There’s a lot of interest but nothing’s happened, nothing has been agreed, we’re still in the mix and we want to keep our players here.’
CELTIC (4-2-3-1): Gordon (Hazard 58); Ralston (Savoury 86), Bitton (Welsh 46), Jullien (Ajer 58), Hayes (Miller 86); Brown (McGregor 46), Connell (Christie 58); Morgan, (Forrest 70), Henderson (Robertson 77), Sinclair (Dembele 77); Griffiths (Edouard 77).