Kolo Toure could be pitched straight into the second leg of Celtic’s UEFA Champions League third round qualifier against FC Astana on Wednesday night after he did not travel with the rest of the Celtic party to Dublin last night. The Parkhead side play Barcelona this evening in the International Champions Cup in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, with the 35-year-old Ivory Coast internationalist left at Lennoxtown as he wasn't deemed fit enough to play.
Toure was registered by the club last Wednesday and could potentially feature as the wildcard signing in the second leg. However, if the decision is indeed made to throw straight him to a tie that is slightly tilted in Celtic’s favour given Leigh Griffiths’ away goal in Kazakhstan this week, it will be the only game time the player has had this summer.
The decision was made to leave Toure at Lennoxtown to work on a specific schedule, but with Erik Sviatchenko toiling for the return leg, Dedryck Boyata out and Jozo Simunovic still a bit away from full fitness, there remains a defensive headache for Brendan Rodgers ahead of the second leg. Mikael Lustig has also remained in Glasgow, although that is more precautionary rather than anything problematic. Stefan Johansen’s wife has given birth and the midfielder has been granted time off to remain at home.
“It’s pretty much the same as we had in midweek in Astana,” said John Kennedy, the club’s assistant manager. “Erik hasn’t travelled over, we will see how he is over the next couple of days. It’s better for him to stay at home and get some treatment with a view to Wednesday’s match.”
“Kolo is still working, fitness-wise, he will stay back and do some extra work. It’s probably a bit early for him to play today so we think if he stays at home he can get a few extra sessions fitness wise and then we’ll have a look at that and assess that on Monday.”
Toure comes to Celtic with experience at the top level gained from European final appearances with Arsenal and Liverpool, but for all that he will bring quality to Celtic's ranks, it matters little until he his fully fit. In that regard, any move to play him against Astana has to be seen in the context of a summer in which he has been out of contract and without a club -and is therefore significantly short of match fitness.
“It depends how he comes through the next few days’ training," Kennedy said when asked about the chances of Toure featuring this week. "If we find his fitness levels are good enough he’s an option but we have to go with we’ve got and it’s pretty much similar to what we had in midweek It depends on how he is fitness-wise and whether we bring someone else in. We can make that decision later.”
Celtic remain committed to adding further signings to the squad, with Scott Sinclair still on the radar of the club. It may be that additional new faces are added once the club know what their position will be this season in Europe.
“There are a number of targets we are looking at and we have to make sure the rights ones come in,” said Kennedy. “He’s [Sinclair] one that has been mentioned but he is still an Aston Villa player. We want to bring quality players in but with the numbers we have we have to bring in players who will be in the team or who can challenge. That is the calibre of player we are looking at.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy was also keen to play down any fitness issues with Kieran Tierney who did not train on Friday morning. “He took a bit of cramp in midweek, nothing more than that there is no injury there,” said the Celtic assistant. “If he feels 100% he will take part in the game, if there is any doubt we will look at Wednesday for him. He will be okay for Wednesday.”
Wednesday’s visitors to Celtic Park had looked to have Griffiths banned for the return leg, claiming that the striker has punched Igor Shitov off the ball. They had called for a six-match ban after posting video footage on their official website, only for UEFA to insist no further action would be taken as the player had been booked. “I think it’s a little bit blown out of proportion,” said Kennedy. “There was a coming together on the pitch, Uefa have dealt with it, the referee deemed it a yellow card and we move on from it there’s nothing else to say.”
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