Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer has confirmed that he will be missing from the Hoops side until mid-December at the earliest as he looks to recover from a broken eye socket which has required surgery.
The Norwegian centre back suffered the serious injury against Livingston before the international break and with the two week gap upon the Bhoys went under the knife to get the issue sorted quickly.
With the operation a success he has now revealed when he expects to be back playing for Brendan Rodgers, with a four week absence the minimum his manager can expect, while it could be that he is out until the new year.
He told the Scottish Sun: “Everything went well and I can start working out again in a week. All I need to be careful about at first is that I avoid contact exercises.
“The plan is that I can play football again in four to six weeks. The surgeon was very pleased when I spoke to him afterwards.”
Opinion
This is actually quite good news considering the circumstances. Head injuries, especially ones as severe as Ajer’s can take some time to fix themselves and so he and the Hoops might have been expecting a longer stint on the sidelines than the prognosis he has delivered. Yes, a month without the centre back is a blow to Rodgers’ plans, especially with the busy festive period right around the corner, but at the same time, so long as there are not too many more problems for the Bhoys to deal with, they should be able to get by without him. All that fans have to hope is that the issue, which would no doubt have been a scary one for the defender, has not dented his confidence, for one of the big things about Ajer has been his bravery. If he is not willing to throw himself head – or foot – first into a challenge then he will have lost the edge which made him such a strong talent at Parkhead. It seems as though that should not be too much of a problem, but coming back from a worrying injury could prove to be a mental, as well as physical, battle.