Source: Team_Talk
Hooper blow hits Hoops for six
Celtic boss Neil Lennon has suffered an early-season blow after summer signing Gary Hooper was ruled out for up to six weeks with a calf tear. The 22-year-old sat out the opening Scottish Premier League victory over Inverness on Saturday after suffering the injury during a pre-season friendly against Blackburn.The former Scunthorpe striker will now miss Celtic's Europa League play-offs against FC Utrecht and their opening group game should they progress.Hooper also looks set to miss SPL matches against St Mirren, Motherwell and Hearts while he will face a fight to make the following contests against Kilmarnock and Hibernian.The injury to Hooper's left calf has disrupted a promising start to his Celtic career following the forward's move from Scunthorpe for around £2million.The Essex-born frontman netted in his first pre-season game against Lyon before marking his competitive debut with a goal against Sporting Braga in the Champions League.Lennon had high hopes for the striker, who struck 50 times in two seasons for the Iron.The manager's front pair at Inverness, Georgios Samaras and Shaun Maloney, both performed well but passed up a host of chances to make the 1-0 victory more convincing.Celtic had to rely on Paddy McCourt's wonderful solo effort but the winger is a doubt for the first leg against Utrecht at Parkhead on Thursday.McCourt suffered a whiplash injury when Maloney ran in to celebrate and Celtic's medical staff are monitoring his progress ahead of the visit of the Dutch side.Meanwhile, defender Thomas Rogne is out for up to three weeks with a strain in his left thigh picked up while playing for Norway Under-21s last week.Winger Niall McGinn is progressing well in his rehab from a fractured metatarsal and should have another two weeks to go while Mark Wilson, who suffered a right adductor injury, will remain in rehab for 10 days to two weeks.Former Motherwell winger Paul Slane ruptured his cruciate ligament in pre-season and has had a successful reconstruction performed in London, but will be out for about nine months.