Alexsandar Tonev will miss Celtic’s clash with Aberdeen on Saturday.
The Bulgarian was signed on loan from Aston Villa a month ago but is still waiting to make his hoops debut.
Tonev struggled to make the breakthrough at Villa last season and has had a frustrating time since switching to Celtic.
“He is training, he looks very good but still feels something in his groin,” Ronny Deila explained today. “We will see what we are doing, we can’t take any chances but he is near to making his debut.”
Scott Brown is an option for the Aberdeen match alongside new strikers Stefan Scepovic and John Guidetti.
Virgil van Dijk missed Celtic’s last match, the 1-1 draw away to Dundee, amid speculation that he was on his way to England.
Celtic refused to consider any offers for the defender but Deila believes that the former Groningen man is in the right frame of mind after becoming a dad and getting called into the Dutch international squad.
“He was fantastic in training today,” Deila added. “He is smiling. It is no problem. We speak all the time. People can wish for things but if you don’t get your wishes sometimes you know how lucky you are to be in the situation you are in.
“He spoke about taking a new step in his career and thought that it was important but he also understands the situation at the club.
“He is at a very big club and he has opportunities to achieve here. I don’t think that he needs to leave to play in the national team. He is one of the best players I have seen when he is at the top of his game.
“He just needs to be consistent and if he does that with Celtic I can’t understand why he can’t be picked for the national squad.”
