Cameron Carter-Vickers.

That's the spirit!

 

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The American centre-back was a model of consistency last season, making 44 appearances across all competitions and missing only a handful of games due to minor knocks. However, that same report raised fears over his fitness, causing unnecessary alarm among supporters.




Thankfully, CeltsAreHere can reassure everyone that those worries are unfounded. From our Substack update on Wednesday, it’s clear that Carter‑Vickers isn’t currently carrying any long‑term injury concerns. Yes, he’s come off a physically draining campaign and, like any high-minute regular, picked up a few niggles – but none of them are serious.


It seems safe to say the Daily Record may have jumped the gun on this one, presenting a worst-case scenario that simply doesn’t reflect the current situation at Lennoxtown.

The hope is for him to put in a full summer, returning sharper than ever for the 2025/26 campaign.

Carter‑Vickers remains a crucial part of Brendan Rodgers’ back‑line plans, and his presence throughout pre‑season will only strengthen the Hoops’ defensive depth.

He’s been a rock at the back, and his quality is going to be much-needed as Celtic negotiate Champions League qualifiers in August.

 

Cameron Carter-Vickers is on course to be fit for the start of the coming campaign despite undergoing knee surgery earlier this summer.


Record Sport revealed earlier this week that the American international has been left to train on his own at the club’s Lennoxtown HQ while boss Brendan Rodgers has been putting the rest of his team mates through their pre-season paces.


That sparked concern that Carter-Vickers might be facing another stretch on the sidelines after struggling with a long-term cartilage issue.




But now we can confirm that Celtic's 27-year-old defensive linchpin did indeed go under the knife for what is being described as a ‘tidy up’ operation.



Carter-Vickers was instructed by the club’s medics to withdraw from the US international squad for a packed summer schedule of friendlies and Concacaf Gold Cup clashes, which concludes next week with a tie against Mexico.

That decision was made at a time when Rangers were allowing John Souttar to delay hernia surgery to join up with Scotland for end of bounce matches against Iceland and Liechtenstein.


Souttar is now racing against the clock to be fit in time for a Champions League qualifier against Panathinaikos on July 22.

But, although Carter-Vickers is not yet ready to rejoin his team mates in full training and will not feature in the club’s first pre-season friendly against Queens Park on Friday night or travel to Ireland to face Cork next week, Rodgers is confident of having his star defender back with the squad in days rather than weeks,

A source said: “Cameron had the issue at the end of last season so he was taken out of the internationals to have the problem cleared up. He is just about ready to begin training again.”

 

Crucial he’s fit for CL qualifiers, always seems to be playing with pretty debilitating injuries. It’s frustrating going into the season almost certainly you are gonna be without him for a block of games at some point. Would like to see that centre half area tidied up this Summer with a clear hierarchy and a new left sided centre half. I’m not convinced the Japanese centre half is gonna waltz in and surprise us. Also two small centre halves domestically isn’t gonna work away from home if he does play with CCV.

 

As CeltsAreHere reported earlier this week, there is no ongoing long-term concerns over Carter-Vickers’ condition. The American international played 44 matches last season, but carried a few niggling issues into the summer break. His fitness concern did ramp up towards the end of the season.



Rodgers has now revealed the centre-half underwent a small clean-up operation to deal with those problems and has returned to training as planned, so there are no long-term concerns for the player.

Speaking to CeltsAreHere following Celtic’s pre-season win over Queen’s Park, Rodgers said: “Yes, he was out training today. He had some issues around the end of last season. But we decided this was really important for him. He needed that to get the operation. We knew then the recovery time would just be the week or so. He’d miss a week. But he’s back working again and, hopefully, be ready for the next few weeks


The manager’s update will come as a relief given Carter-Vickers’ vital role at the heart of Celtic’s defence. With Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke both expected to depart this summer, the American’s fitness will be key as Rodgers reshapes his backline ahead of the Champions League qualifiers.

 

Those sort of operations happen all the time. So not sounding terrible.

Sure about 2 seasons ago CCV, Bain, Ralston, Taylor and maybe one other all flew down at the same time for similar.

Hopefully using the off-season break wisely here as opposed to anything else.