John Kennedy has revealed that some home truths were shared with Jack Hendry before he was sent on loan to Oostende.
During the summer the former Dundee defender was in rehab from knee surgery as Celtic assessed their options following the departure of Jozo Simunovic.
Hatem Abd Elhamed, Stephen Welsh and Nir Bitton were viewed as back up to Kris Ajer and Chris Jullien before Shane Duffy was brought in on loan at the start of September. Later that month Hendry made a scoring debut against Mechelen and hasn’t looked back.
Oostende are sitting in fifth place ahead of Anderlecht with English clubs linked with the on loan Celtic defender who could be in line for a Scotland recall.
The landscape for Hendry has changed greatly since the summer as Kennedy told the Daily Record:
We had a number of centre backs who were ahead of him and he recognised that and that we had to come to an agreement to get him out playing.
It is good that he has done well. We have kept in touch, I have spoken to him several times and he is enjoying himself and playing regularly. It was a decision made at the times based on what we had and where we saw it.
Again that will be something that will need to be addressed in the summer. I don’t think a decision will be made until then. It will depend on everybody’s situation and how things look and people’s opinions but a conversation will take place probably then.
Until then he just has to continue to play, get the games under his belt and people will make that decision. Having spoken to him, I know game time is what he has enjoyed most.
Hendry has a year left to run on his Celtic contract although Oostende have an option to sign him at the end of this season. That would require an agreement with the player who is certain to be aware of more lucrative options in England.