Saracchi Update – 'He’s pulled his hamstring again,' Martin O’Neill

The Uruguayan defender – who has been in impressive form since arriving on loan from Boca Juniors in August – was forced to leave the pitch shortly before half-time in what was the O’Neill’s last match as Celtic’s interim manager.

The Irishman – whose side, with a game in hand over Hearts, claimed a 1-0 victory over Dundee to join the Jambos at the summit of the Premiership table – explained after the match that the defender now faces a spell on the sidelines.

Celtic’s mounting injury list 

Celtic now face a shortage of options at left-back, with several key players – Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alistair Johnston, Jota and Kelechi Iheanacho – already unavailable, while Kieran Tierney is still progressing through his recovery from a toe injury and had to endure the extremely painful experience of having a toe nail removed during the week.

The Scotland defender had to rely on pain-relief injections in order to play in Sunday’s encounter against Hibernian at Easter Road.

With massive games coming up against Hearts on Sunday, followed by Roma in the Europa League and then St Mirren in the Premier Sports League Cup final, it will be a tall order for injury prone Tierney to be relied upon in all of those matches.

“He’s going to be out for a while’

When asked post-match about the scale of Saracchi’s injury, O’Neill said via The National: “He’s pulled his hamstring again. So he’s going to be out for a while. I like him, I really do like him. He’s a great character.

“He doesn’t speak English. He has very little English. I said, ‘You’ve got to learn English!’ He said, ‘Yes’. Then I say to him, ‘ What else are you doing?’ He said, ‘Yes’. The answer is yes to everything. He’s got no idea what I’m talking about.”

‘Recruitment at any football club is essential’

When questioned about the group of players that incoming manager Wilfried Nancy will take over, the 73 year-old responded: “It will be up to him to make his mind up about the players. He has, essentially, most of this month.

“But I think that recruitment at any football club is essential. It’s a big job bringing in players. But I think they will want to supplement his squad in Jauuary. Remember, we’ve had injuries too. Johnston and Carter Vickers will be out for quite some time.”