Ange Postecoglou's Celtic side face a break from their Premiership campaign on Saturday afternoon, when the Bhoys make the trip to Alloa Athletic in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.

And, with the Hoops' opponents currently struggling towards the bottom of the Scottish League One table, the fixture presents the 56-year-old Celtic manager with a perfect opportunity to rest a number of his regular starters, as well as handing minutes to some of his peripheral squad members - in addition to those returning from injury.

[snack-amp-story url="https://www.footballfancast.com/?post_type=web-story&p=664142" title="Check out the latest Celtic news!"]

One player who falls into the latter category is none other than Christopher Jullien, the 28-year-old centre-back who last featured for the Bhoys all the way back in December 2020, with a recurring knee injury seeing the former France U21 international miss over a year of first-team football.

However, following the defender's recent post on Twitter - in which Jullien shared a photo of himself in training at Lennoxtown alongside the caption "green light" - it would appear as if the Frenchman is now ready to make his long-awaited return to the pitch.

And, with the fixture against Alloa not likely to be the most strenuous game of the season for the Celtic backline, Barry Ferguson's side could well be the perfect opponent for Jullien to ease himself back into the rigours of first-team football.

Game-changer

While the expression like a new signing is perhaps overused when describing a player returning from injury, should Jullien be able to refind the level of form he was in prior to his injury, the 28-year-old's availability will undoubtedly be game-changing for Celtic's title hopes this season.

Indeed, over his nine Premiership fixtures in the Bhoys' 2020/21 campaign, the £4.95m-rated centre-back helped his side to keep five clean sheets, scored one goal and registered one assist, as well as making an average of 1.2 interceptions, 1.2 tackles, 3.6 clearances and winning 6.9 duels per game.

These returns saw the £20k-per-week defender average a rather astonishing SofaScore match rating of 7.43, ranking him as the Hoops' second-best performer in the league last season.

As such, in order to help get the Frenchman back up to speed as quickly as possible, Postecoglou simply must unleash Jullien on Saturday afternoon, as the return of the player who Noel Whelan dubbed a "leader" could well turn the tide in Celtic's favour regarding the Premiership race over the coming months.

In other news: "Excellent" 23 y/o may have played his final game for Celtic as January deal is agreed