CAMERON CARTER-VICKERS celebrates his 26th birthday today with a fervent wish.
The USA World Cup centre-back hopes to return to big-match action as soon as possible after the winter break.
Carter-Vickers, who cost £6million from Spurs when he joined in the summer of 2022 following his initial impressive season-long loan, limped out of the 3-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park on Boxing Day shortly after the interval.
The hamstring problem that has dogged him since the second game of the campaign – where he was forced to come off at the interval of the 3-1 victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie – kept him out of the 2-1 derby success yesterday and there will be no place for him in Brendan Rodgers’ squad for the match against St Mirren in Paisley on Tuesday.
SITTING IT OUT…Cameron Carter-Vickers just before he left the Dens Park pitch during Celtic’s 3-0 Boxing Day win over Dundee.
It could be Sunday January 21 before we see the rugged defender again when the holders face Highland outfit Buckie Thistle in the Scottish Cup Fourth Round encounter in the east end of Glasgow.
Reflecting on Carter-Vickers’ previous relatively stress-free career, boss Brendan Rodgers, speaking to the Daily Record, said: “Talking to the guys before, he hadn’t picked up a lot of injuries, he was quite robust.
“But since he’s had his knee operation, it’s been a challenge for him. Speaking to John Kennedy about that sort of experience around the knee, you end up compensating a lot.“So, it’s maybe going to take him a wee bit of time to get that rhythm back again. He never had a proper pre-season. He was on his own, so he’s always been catching up.
“Hopefully, he can get free of that for the second part of the season because he’s a fantastic player.”
CQN and all our readers wish Cameron a happy 26th birthday and we look forward to seeing him in the middle of the rearguard early in the New Year.
