Celtic's Dedryck Boyata saga rumbles on
Dedryck Boyata's future at Celtic is still unclear after he was left out of the Hoops squad for their clash with Partick Thistle on Saturday.
The Belgian claimed he missed the Champions League qualifying defeat at AEK Athens on Tuesday night with an injury, while manager Brendan Rodgers stated he was fit.
The 27-year-old will train with the under-20s on Saturday morning as Celtic prepare to begin the defence of the trophy which has been part of their domestic treble for the previous two seasons.
Assistant manager Chris Davies said: "Dedryck has had a long chat with the manager. It is an unfortunate situation. We can't change what happened.
"There was a frustration obviously. The manager is managing the situation and Dedryck won't be involved tomorrow, obviously.
"There is no point vilifying anybody or blaming one individual. The situation as it stands is open and we will see what happens.
"Obviously there has been a lot of frustration from the supporters but as it stands he is still a Celtic player and that may well be the case when the window shuts.
"So we can't say he will be leaving the club. If the manager sees fit, he may well remain a Celtic player
"Dedryck will agree that it could have been handled differently. It is not all one person's fault, that is the other thing to make clear.''
Boyata's agent Jacques Lichtenstein had claimed Celtic had broken promises to his client and was quoted by DH.be saying that as the defender is in the final year of his contract, he could not risk playing when not 100 per cent fit.
Davies said: "As the manager has stated he believed the player was available. The player obviously felt he wasn't available to play.
"What hasn't helped any of this from Dedryck's point of view is that his representative was quite vocal about his situation which didn't help the matter.
"But as it stands, he hasn't trained today. He is with the conditioning team and hopefully he will train tomorrow with the under-20s squad and possibly be available to train with the team on Monday.''
Striker Odsonne Edouard missed the match in Athens with an injury which makes him a doubt for the Europa League play-off first leg against Suduva in Lithuania next Thursday.
"Odsonne has a knock so he is not going to be available for tomorrow, he is a little while away yet,'' said Davies.
"Possibly (out of the Europa League qualifier) we will see how he goes.
"The medical team are assessing him, there is a chance he won't be ready for that one.''
Looking ahead to the trip to Thistle, who were relegated from the Ladbrokes Premiership last season, Davies said: "Obviously we are the holders, we are defending our trophy.
"I always thought Partick were a decent team and I was surprised that they got sucked into a relegation battle last season.
"They have got some good players and they have a good coach. It is a difficult place to go and there will be no complacency there''