Celtic left-back Adam Montgomery has returned to training at Lennoxtown after a lengthy spell out injured following his difficult loan stint at Livingston.
The Celtic defender has been working his way back from the calf injury that ended his season prematurely and ultimately brought his Livingston loan to an early conclusion back in January.
Montgomery had initially started well with David Martindale’s side earlier in the campaign. The 23-year-old featured in eight Premiership matches at left-back and looked to be rebuilding momentum after several disrupted years away from Celtic Park.
But the injury suffered against Motherwell in October halted that progress once again.
From there, Montgomery missed months of action and never managed to return before the loan agreement was terminated. It continued a frustrating pattern for the academy graduate, whose career has repeatedly been interrupted by injury setbacks just as he appeared to be finding rhythm.
His return to training this week is an encouraging step personally, particularly given how long the recovery process has been over the past two seasons. After suffering a serious injury during his brief loan spell at Motherwell in 2024, Montgomery has struggled to build any sustained continuity in senior football.
There are not expected to be any first-team opportunities for him before the end of the current campaign, however.
With Celtic locked into a tense title race alongside Hearts and also preparing for a Scottish Cup final against Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline, Martin O’Neill’s focus remains firmly on experienced options for the run-in.
The defender’s contract is due to expire next year, and with Celtic expected to undergo a major rebuild following the appointment of a new permanent manager, there is a growing sense that several fringe players could move on permanently.
Montgomery once looked capable of becoming a regular first-team option after breaking through under Ange Postecoglou in 2021. Comfortable on the ball and naturally attack-minded, he fitted the profile of a modern Celtic full-back.
Yet despite flashes of promise across loan spells with Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Queen’s Park and Livingston, he has never managed to fully re-establish himself at Celtic Park.
His most productive period remains the 2022/23 season at St Johnstone, where he played regularly and showed the kind of development Celtic hoped for when they first sent him out on loan.
Since then, injuries and constant disruption have left his career stalled at an important stage.
With major squad decisions looming this summer and the club likely to reshape significant parts of the first-team group, Montgomery may now find himself among the players facing a permanent departure as Celtic prepare for another rebuild.
