Hatem Abd Elhamed could miss the rest of 2019 through injury.
The defender suffered a groin strain late on during the Europa League tie against Lazio and missed Sunday’s win over Motherwell as he waited for word on his scan results.
Tonight, the Daily Record reports:
Celtic star Hatem Abd Elhamed is set to miss six weeks as the defender has been ruled out of the Betfred Cup Final against Rangers. The Israeli defender limped off with a groin problem in the Parkhead’s side heroic victory against Lazio.
It was first expected he would miss around three to four weeks, but his agent Dudu Dahan revealed he will be on the sidelines for a longer period of time. That means he will miss the Hampden clash on December 8 against Rangers as the city rivals fight it out for the first piece of silverware this season.
Six weeks runs deep into December forcing Neil Lennon to choose between Moritz Bauer and Jeremie Frimpong for the time being.
Frimpong seems to be the man in possession at the moment but is ineligible to play in the Europa League opening the door to the on-loan Stoke City defender.
With nine matches between December 1 and 29 Lennon will need every member of his squad fully fit to keep on top through that gruelling schedule.
Celtic signed Elhamed from Hapoel Be’er Sheva in July for a fee reported to be £1.6m with the 28-year-old slotting straight into the side as Lennon put together a new look defence after the departures of Mikael Lustig, Cristian Gamboa and Jeremy Toljan.
