The Athletic's Celtic correspondent Kieran Devlin has dropped an update regarding Hoops defender Christopher Jullien.
The Lowdown: Jullien’s return
The 28-year-old has missed the majority of the season due to a serious knee injury he sustained in 2020, with his one and only appearance coming against Raith Rovers last month.
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Jullien came on as a substitute in the Scottish Cup and has been named on the bench since, although he hasn’t been involved in Celtic’s last three Premiership matchday squads.
While the Frenchman appears to be over his injury issues, Devlin has dropped a worrying contract claim regarding the centre-back.
The Latest: Devlin’s update on Jullien
The journalist shared a Celtic mailbag on The Athletic on Friday and responded to a question on Jullien. He provided an injury update, along with an insight on the defender's future in Glasgow, saying:
“On Jullien, I understand that Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers are very settled as a partnership more than anything else. I understand there is nothing significantly wrong with Jullien’s recovery after 15 months out with injury, however, by the summer he will have only one year left on his contract. When combined with the possibility that Carter-Vickers decides not to turn his loan from Tottenham Hotspur into a permanent move, it makes the centre-back question this summer an intriguing one.”
The Verdict: A worry…
As Devlin has mentioned, Jullien will be into the final 12 months of his Hoops deal in the summer, so Parkhead chiefs may have a big decision to make on the Frenchman ahead of Ange Postecoglou’s second season as manager.
The fact that he has hardly kicked a competitive ball for Celtic since December 2020 is a worry, and it seems as if he may not get too many opportunities in the crunch stage of the season, with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt now Postecoglou’s first-choice centre-back pairing.
Should Jullien not feature regularly between now and the summer, Celtic chiefs may well look into parting ways with their sixth most-expensive signing of all time due to his injury issues and contract situation.
In other news: Celtic pundit fumes at 'massive' Parkhead news after insider's reveal