CELTIC are still waiting to hear if Egyptian striker Hossam Hassan is
joining them for a trial period, writes Ian Paul.
Assistant manager Chic Bates said yesterday that they had received no
official confirmation of his arrival at Parkhead this week as they had
anticipated. The man who gave Celtic a hard time when he scored four
goals in Neuchatel Xamax's 5-1 thrashing of the Glasgow side two years
ago has not been in touch with the club.
Allegations of ''tapping'' by his Egyptian team, El Ahly, were denied
by Bates, who said that Celtic had not even spoken to the player.
''People got in touch with us to say he was available,'' he said, ''but
we can't do anything until we know whether or not he is coming.''
Better news is that Paul Byrne is unlikely to need a knee operation
after all. The Irishman has been training this week after having
received treatment and resting the injured leg. He is in line for a
return to the team for the game with Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday.
''We would like to see him get a reserve game on Friday first if we
can arrange it,'' said Bates. ''But he has suffered no reaction to
training.''
Rangers striker Duncan Ferguson is hoping to recover from an ankle
injury in time to have another reserve outing this weekend, and keeper
Andy Goram has restarted training after his knee operations. It is too
soon to anticipate his comeback date, but assistant manager Archie Knox
hinted that there would be no pre-publicity about the moment when it
does come.
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