Celtic have been dealt yet another injury setback ahead of their upcoming Europa League fixture.

What's the latest?

In recent comments cited by The Scottish Sun, Ange Postecoglou revealed that, despite setting the Bayer Leverkusen fixture as Christopher Jullien's return date to first-team action, the centre-back, who has not featured for Celtic since December 2020, is once again not fit enough to travel with the squad to Germany.

Speaking about the defender's return, the 56-year-old said: "We still need to do some work with Chris. I know people are anxious but we are not quite there. This was sort of seen as a likely return date but we have just got to be careful. I want him back but I want him back for good. I don't want him suffering a setback."

Fans will be fuming

Following the recent news that Stephen Welsh also looks set to miss out on the Bhoys' crucial Europa League clash this Thursday, in addition to the fact that Postecoglou has continually moved Jullien's return date back since his arrival at the club this summer, the 56-year-old's latest update regarding the 28-year-old is sure to leave Hoops fans fuming.

Indeed, with the £4.95m-rated centre-back not being available for selection this week, Postecoglou looks likely to be left with only Cameron Carter-Vickers, Osaze Urhoghide and Liam Scales as options in the heart of his defence, with neither of the latter two of this trio having made a single Scottish Premiership appearance so far this season.

As such, Jullien's continued absence looks to have dealt the 56-year-old's chances of picking up all three points on Thursday evening with a rather significant blow, with anything other than a win against the Bundesliga side more than likely resulting in Celtic being dumped out of the Europa League.

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