Tomorrow, at home to Dundee, Jozo Simunovic will be missing from the Celtic defence.
Life has rarely been predictable since the defender signed from Dinamo Zagreb as a replacement for Virgil van Dijk in 2015.
Over the same timescale the Dutchman became one of the most wanted defenders in Europe with many Celtic fans pleasantly surprised to get a second season out of the former Groningen defender.
In his two years at Celtic Simunovic has started 60 matches with various injuries and plastic pitches reducing his impact.
When he has played he has impressed but perhaps in central defence more than elsewhere consistency is essential.
???? BR on @SimunovicJozo: “He’ll unlikely be involved on Sat. It was never an injury that was going to keep him out for a sustained time.”
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) October 12, 2017
It looked like Simunovic was reaching that stage when he signed a contract extension and impressed against Sevco and Anderlecht, alas another injury prevented him from building on that when he missed the 2-2 draw at home to Hibs.
According to the Bosnian FA the defender had a 4.5 cm tear on his hamstring but Celtic seem hopeful of having the defender in place to face Bayern Munich next week.
October will be a highly demanding month for Celtic, getting Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata together would give the defence a base to build around.
However until they get a run of a dozen games together it seems that Celtic fans will always be left wondering about their first choice central defensive partnership.