Kasper Schmeichel surgery news took Celtic boss Martin O’Neill by surprise

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill was surprised to hear of Kasper Schmeichel’s on-air announcement declaring his career might be over.

O’Neill had stated last Friday that the goalkeeper was closing in on a return to fitness but Schmeichel announced live on CBS’s Champions League coverage on Wednesday that he faced double shoulder surgery and up to a year of rehabilitation.

O’Neill was aware during his first caretaker spell in charge that Schmeichel was still experiencing pain from the shoulder he injured while playing for Denmark 12 months ago.

But the 74-year-old said: “I must admit I was surprised at the severity of it. I know that he was having injections to play some of the games and, while that’s not a great remedy, I didn’t realise how bad it was. So, disappointed to hear the news.

“I didn’t think that Kasper was going to announce it. Tim (Williamson), our physio, was aware that the scan had shown up much worse than we thought.

“But I wasn’t expecting to hear that. I didn’t hear it first hand, but I heard it second hand. Obviously I would have preferred to have heard it myself.”

O’Neill added: “It happened rather quickly. Believe it or not, sometimes I can be incommunicado.”

Schmeichel, who was present but not fully participating in training on Friday, came under criticism for some performances since first suffering the injury, notably when he scored an own goal in Celtic’s Scottish Cup final defeat by Aberdeen.

Fans continued to question whether the shoulder issue was hampering him.

“We’ve all played with injuries,” former Nottingham Forest midfielder O’Neill said. “I’ve been guilty of that myself, a hundred-odd years ago, trying to play through an injury to play in a European Cup final.

“I thought he was really terrific in my first spell here. He made some big, big saves in games.

“While I knew that there was a problem with his shoulder, which he had had for some considerable time, again, I didn’t think it was as severe as it’s turned out to be.

“He seemed to get through the games and, while you don’t want to flog someone to death, he was doing fine and he didn’t think it was a major problem at that time.”

O’Neill stated that Schmeichel had experienced a bad reaction to an injection after being absent from Celtic’s recent 2-2 draw with Rangers, which came 10 days after the Dane conceded two very soft goals in a 4-1 defeat by Stuttgart.

When asked if Schmeichel playing through injury had cost Celtic, O’Neill said: “I think you’re probably referring really to the Stuttgart game as much as anything else. In terms of results, the results have been fine. Both with him in the side and obviously with Viljami Sinisalo in the team.

“Kasper played after Stuttgart. He played against Hibs, made a big save for us. We didn’t win the game, but he did make a big save for us to prevent Hibs taking the lead before they did.”

Meanwhile, Callum McGregor is expected to be fit for Celtic’s trip to face Dundee United on Sunday following a calf injury.