£18m AC Milan star pictured on crutches; likely to miss Celtic clash

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Hakan Calhanoglu has been pictured leaving AC Milan’s training ground on crutches with his availability for Thursday’s Europa League clash with Celtic in doubt, according to reports from Italy.

While it is not exactly in good taste to take pleasure from someone else’s misfortune, any hopes the Hoops have of claiming a famous result against one of European football’s most in-form sides have just been handed a substantial boost.

After all, Turkey international Calhanoglu is one of the major reasons why Milan have a 100 per cent record in Serie A this season and are unbeaten in their last 20 games across all competitions.

The £18 million midfielder has produced the finest football of his Rossoneri career post-lockdown and, with four goals and three assists in seven games, he represents perhaps Milan’s most potent source of creativity.

But after suffering what looks like a potentially serious ankle injury in training, Calhanoglu could be conspicuous by his absence when Milan travel to Parkhead later this week.

The former Bayer Leverkusen play-maker has been pictured leaving the Milanello training ground on crutches.

Tuttomercatoweb claim that he will be assessed today or tomorrow to discover the extent of the damage, although it feels very unlikely that he will be fit to feature in what is perhaps Celtic’s most high-profile European fixture since they went head-to-head with PSG and Bayern Munich three years ago.