BRENDAN RODGERS confirmed Kristoffer Ajer will definitely need surgery after sustaining a fractured eye socket in Celtic’s 0-0 draw against Livingston Sunday.
The Irishman let it be known the player was in ‘real agony’ after the collision which left his face in a bit of a mess.
It’s bad luck for the Celtic youngster who only got back in the side against Livingston because Rodgers didn’t want to risk Filip Benkovic on the very poor plastic pitch. The Croatian has been nursing a slight calf injury and the Celtic boss didn’t want to exacerbate the problem.
Celtic will now be a man down after the international break with no clear timetable for Ajer’s recover.
Speaking about the incident, Rodgers admitted the defender is struggling.
“He’s struggling – he’s broken his eye socket and he’s in a lot of pain at the moment,” the Celtic boss told The Herald.
“He will need surgery which is a shame for him. He’s in a bit of pain. He’s in real agony around the area of his cheekbone. The medics will look after him and hopefully he can get that repaired as soon as possible.
“He’s a fantastic young player who’s a model professional. He does absolutely everything he can to be ready. It was a case of coming in today and it was just a really unfortunate incident. There was nothing in it. It was just during that wee bit we had in their box. He’s just headered down into their guy’s head.”
Celtic and Brendan Rodgers now have a bit of breathing space to asses all injuries in the squad.
Craig Gordon, Emilio Izaguirre, Scott Brown, Leigh Griffiths and Olivier Ntcham are all on the crocked list with Ajer at the moment.
It’s thought the injury situation should ease after the break with Ntcham, Brown and Leigh coming back into contention at least.
