Celtic centre-back Carl Starfelt is going to be out of action for a few weeks at least. The defender picked up a knee problem in the Hoops' recent win over Rangers, and the Scottish Sun reported that whilst the player doesn't need to have an operation, he will miss the upcoming games against Shakhtar and St Mirren.
That is a blow for the Swedish international, as he suffered an injury in the close season as well, and he had just re-established his partnership with Cameron Carter-Vickers in the Hoops first-team, which has been a great success for Celtic in the past 12 months.
Starfelt was playing well for the Bhoys, and had managed to score twice this season, but he is going to be on the side-lines for a while. Whilst it is a pity for Starfelt that he is going to be out, it is not a crisis for Celtic like it would have been last season, as the Hoops have the players available for selection that can take the place of Starfelt in the Celtic line-up.
Moritz Jenz and Stephen Welsh are the players that are available for selection that can take the place of Starfelt in the Celtic line-up, and indeed it was Jenz who started for the Hoops ahead of Starfelt in Celtic's most recent game against Real Madrid.
At the moment Jenz might not be as good a player as Starfelt, but he has shown that he is more than capable of fitting in the Celtic squad, and he hasn't looked out of place in the Hoops first-team in the games that he has played for the Bhoys.
When Starfelt is fit you have to imagine that he will return to the Celtic first-team, as has already been stated his partnership with Carter-Vickers is the number one defensive partnership at the club, even though Jenz will be looking to make his partnership with Carter-Vickers the number one partnership.
That won't happen unless Jenz gets playing time, and that is going to happen over the next week at least, and it will be interesting to see how he fares in the upcoming games against Shakhtar and St Mirren.
If Jenz does well replacing Starfelt, then it gives Ange Postecoglou a good problem, as he will have a few centre-backs hopefully in good form, and that is always a positive for a football club, and Celtic are no different. Hopefully Starfelt is back sooner rather than later, but the Hoops have the players to deal with his absences.