Earlier this week Neil Lennon made a remark that now appears to be all the more significant – “his best years are ahead of him,” the Celtic manager suggested when speaking about Jozo Simunovic.

The Croatian defender has endured a torrid time with injury, sitting out five months of action earlier this season.

However, his return has been anything but productive. The Hoops had a wonderful chance to secure their passage into the last 16 of the Europa League but they stuttered and ultimately failed in their aims.

A host of reasons were to blame, but Simunovic’s comical defending on Thursday night in their 3-1 defeat was chief amongst them.

He was Celtic’s own worst enemy, being caught in possession on too many occasions. In fact, he lost the ball a colossal 14 times – a number that’s simply too high for someone playing in central defence.

This came back to bite him during Copenhagen’s opening goal. He failed to deal with a routine ball which allowed Michael Santos to steal in and find the net.

“We’ve seen it so many times,” exclaimed Pat Bonner during the game and simply put, this has to be the final straw for Lennon.

Simunovic had a poor evening at Celtic Park, being dribbled past once and also committing a foul. However, it was the individual mistake that summed up his night.

This wasn’t a player full of confidence and with his contract running down, the hierarchy would be foolish to extend it.

Celtic have the option to lengthen his current terms by an extra year when they expire in the summer but this would be a baffling decision, especially if you consider his injury problems too. Unreliable in terms of fitness, the 6 foot 3 defender has also proven ineffective on the pitch.

The 25-year-old attracted incredibly harsh criticism during the game. Journalist Kieran Devlin had a damning three-word assessment: “Isn’t good enough”, while Daily Record reporter Craig Swan had two-words to add: “Very ropey.”

To say Simunovic was poor would be an understatement but it’s made even more frustrating when you consider Lennon chose to field Kristoffer Ajer at right-back with Jeremie Frimpong on the bench. The big defender didn’t really need to play, yet there he was, costing Celtic a place in the last 16 of Europe.

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The Hoops boss has previously said he wants to keep the central defender next season, but it’s hard to see that he’s very deserving of that.

After all, they’ve already been linked with another defender in the shape of Gillingham’s Jack Tucker. Perhaps they ought to invest in him instead.

Meanwhile, Celtic already have a READY MADE Arzani replacement right in front of them...