CeltsAreHere can confirm that Kieran Tierney, Anthony Ralston, Sebastian Tounekti and Hyunjun Yang were back in Celtic training on Friday ahead of the friendly against Middlesbrough.
The quartet returned to work at Lennoxtown following their involvement at the World Cup, providing Martin O’Neill with additional options before Saturday’s match at Celtic Park.
Their return comes after Celtic completed their training camp in Portugal, where O’Neill’s side faced Sporting CP earlier this week.
There was no sign of Benjamin Nygren, Daizen Maeda, Alistair Johnston or Auston Trusty during the part of Friday’s session seen by CeltsAreHere.
That does not necessarily mean any of the four were absent from Lennoxtown for the full day or have been ruled out of the Middlesbrough game. Players returning from major international tournaments can follow individual schedules depending on when their involvement ended, travel demands and the amount of rest agreed with the club.
O’Neill may offer more clarity when he names his squad for the match.
It remains to be seen whether any of the three will be given minutes against Middlesbrough so soon after returning to club training. With Celtic still in the early stages of pre-season, O’Neill will be careful with workloads as he prepares the squad for competitive action.
Saturday’s friendly kicks off at 3pm and will be Celtic’s first match back at Parkhead this summer.
The visit of the English Championship side gives O’Neill another opportunity to assess his squad, while supporters may also get their first look at some of the returning international players.
For now, Tierney, Ralston and Tounekti are back on the training pitch. The wait continues for Nygren, Maeda, Johnston and Trusty to be pictured alongside them.
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Spl teams have to buy to compete with Celtic but Celtic have to buy to get into champions league with injured players returning we are alright for spl but we need three or four top class players for europe with players being said by media leaving the club if Celtic qualifies for champions league that will change Engels will stay. The clubs supposedly after him aren’t in europe and and along way away from it maeda might stay but they have to sign a three year contact can’t allow Engels to run his contract down maeda his value will keep going down even though he will play till 34 or 36 I can’t see any signing by other Clubs in spl that worries me remember they will lose there top players