Celtic suffer blow with ‘immense’ £4m star highly unlikely to face Aberdeen

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Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has suffered a big blow ahead of Aberdeen visiting Parkhead, with Carl Starfelt now ‘highly unlikely’ to be fit for the opening day meeting through injury.

That’s according to the Daily Record, who report Postecoglou should expect to be without Starfelt on Sunday, July 31. The Sweden defender is set to step up his recovery with a full return to training this week, but did not feature in any of the Bhoys’ pre-season friendlies.

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Starfelt suffered a muscle injury whilst representing his country in the Nations League last month. Janne Andersson recalled the five-cap centre-back to his plans after he helped the Hoops win the Premiership during his debut term after joining from Rubin Kazan for £4m.

But Andersson had to replace Starfelt in first-half stoppage-time against Slovenia after the Celtic star sustained an early injury. Now, the 27-year-old is a major doubt for the Hoops’ Premiership curtain-raiser at home to Aberdeen this week as they start their title defence.

Jenz could face Aberdeen if injury keeps Starfelt out of Celtic line-up

Moritz Jenz may expect to start if Starfelt is unavailable after joining the Bhoys on loan for the campaign from FC Lorient. He would likely feature beside Cameron Carter-Vickers after Postecoglou paid Tottenham Hotspur £6m to make his season-long switch a full-time deal.

Starfelt and Carter-Vickers proved to be the foundations for Postecoglou’s success at Celtic after taking charge last year. Chris Sutton hailed the defensive partnership as ‘immense’ as the former racked up 49 appearances and the latter enjoyed 45 games in all competitions.

They also enjoyed 37 games on the field together, and even combined for one goal against Ross County in September. Postecoglou additionally only lost four games – three in regular time – with both of Starfelt and Carter-Vickers on the field, so Starfelt’s injury is a big blow.