Opinion: Could £7m star make Celtic return in Cup clash?

Celtic‘s injury problems aren’t anything like as bad as they were a few weeks ago. The duo of Kyogo and David Turnbull are the only players that are out long-term, and haven’t featured in recent Celtic squads.

One player who is back in training, and has indeed featured in some Celtic squads this season, but has yet to play any first-team football this season, is centre-back Christopher Jullien.

Jullien, who Celtic reportedly paid Toulouse £7m for in 2019, has not featured for the Hoops since suffering a knee injury in December 2020. However, he has featured on the bench for the Bhoys three times this season, most recently in the game against Dundee United.

Interestingly, he hasn’t featured on the bench for the Hoops’ two most recent games against Rangers and Motherwell, hopefully that is just a precautionary measure. You have to imagine that even if Jullien is fit, he probably isn’t likely to feature in the midweek match against Aberdeen.

However, it would perhaps be a good idea to give the 28-year-old some playing time in Celtic’s game at the weekend, the Scottish Cup tie against Raith Rovers. With no disrespect meant to the Championship side, it is a game that the Hoops should be winning.

You have to imagine that Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou will make some changes to his line-up for the game, and some fringe players might well feature in the starting line-up.

Jullien might not feature in the starting line-up – Stephen Welsh seems more likely to – but it would surely be a real boost for Jullien if he played even the last 15 minutes of the game.

He must be desperate to get back on the pitch, as it is over 13 months that he has been out of action. That is far too long for a player to be out of action, and Jullien has