Luis Palma avoids lengthy ban, Lagerbielke’s return to Paradise

The Honduran winger is currently spending the season at Lech Poznan, having been informed that he does not feature in Brendan Rodgers’ long-term plans at Celtic.

However, he drew heavy criticism for a shocking challenge on Rakow Czestochowa’s Zoran Arsenic that resulted in his sending off. Rakow boss Marek Papszun revealed that his players claimed they heard the sound of Zoran’s bones breaking following the challenge.

Medical tests confirmed a leg fracture that will sideline Zoran for two months, while Palma later expressed his remorse for the incident. Speaking via The National, Palma said: “I want to publicly apologise to Zoran Arsenic and wish to make it clear it was never my intention to hurt him. Unfortunately, I caused him a bad injury, which I wish had never happened and I wish him a speedy recovery.”

He was given a mandatory two-game suspension, with the Polish League’s disciplinary board later meeting to determine if further matches should be added to the ban. However, the disciplinary panel chose to keep the suspension at two matches, taking into account Palma’s public apology and regret of the incident.

Once Palma returns to Celtic next summer it looks increasingly likely that he will be heading for the exit permanently.

Palma was part of the disastrous 2023 summer transfer window spearheaded by Mark Lawwell where Celtic spent the best part of £19 million on Palma, Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Odin Holm, Yang, Kwon and Marco Tilio whilst Paulo Bernardo and Nat Phillips were season-long loan deals.

One of the worst transfer windows in recent memory and the club are still dealing with the consequences of it two-and-a-half years later. And many supporters believe that the fall-out from that transfer window is the root cause of all the problems Celtic are currently facing on and off the park with a ‘Celtic Insider’ last month briefing against the current Celtic manager in the Sun newspaper.

Gustaf Lagerbielke meanwhile was back at Celtic Park last night playing for his new club Sporting Braga and managed to get one over on his old teammates as the Portuguese outfit ran out 2-0 winners in the Europa League tie, aided by what Sky Sports called the worst VAR decision of all time.

Conor Spence