Martin O’Neill faces an early selection headache after Celtic defender Liam Scales was ruled out of the opening two Premiership fixtures through suspension.
The centre-back will miss the champions’ Flag Day clash with Dundee as well as the trip to Kilmarnock in early August after reaching the disciplinary threshold for accumulated bookings last season.
Scales collected his 12th yellow card of the campaign in the penultimate league match against Motherwell. Under SPFL rules, the resulting two-game suspension is applied seven days after the offence, meaning he remained eligible for the final-day victory over Hearts but must now serve the ban at the start of the new season.
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The Irishman was a near ever-present for Celtic last term, featuring in 56 matches across all competitions and missing just one league game, making his absence a notable blow for O’Neill.
However, there was encouragement for the manager during pre-season as Cameron Carter-Vickers returned to action in the 1-1 draw with Shelbourne.
Auston Trusty, Maik Nawrocki, and Dane Murray are also available as defensive options ahead of the new campaign.
