Source: Team_Talk
McGinn eager to step up comeback
Celtic's Niall McGinn faces a battle against time to be fit for the start of the new season and force his way into manager Neil Lennon's plans. The winger suffered a metatarsal injury at the end of last season and will be working on his fitness while the rest of the squad are on their pre-season tour of North America.McGinn, 22, is gutted to miss out on the trip but will focus instead on being back in action for the games that matter when the campaign gets under way for real.He said: "It's disappointing. It happened in the last training session of last season so I didn't have the best of summers."But thankfully I got the all-clear last week so it's just about progressing from here."I should be back training in four to six weeks and hopefully I'll be back for the start."It's going to be hard but I just need to make sure that I'm coming back fit and healthy."It was a pre-season I was looking forward to, going to America for 10 days, playing in the Emirates Cup and then looking forward to the Champions League qualifiers."You grow up wanting to play against teams like Arsenal and Manchester United."It's disappointing but I'm thankful the injury has happened during pre-season and not at the beginning of the season when you're missing league games."Northern Irishman Lennon impressed when he replaced Tony Mowbray at the helm on a caretaker basis at the end of last term and McGinn was thrilled to see him earn the job on a permanent basis.He said: "It's good to see Neil Lennon getting the job."I grew up watching Neil Lennon as a fellow countryman so it was good to see him getting the job."There are going to be changes, with players coming in and players leaving."McGinn expressed disappointment at former captain Stephen McManus' departure.But he believes the switch to Middlesbrough will be a good career move for the defender, who spent the second half of last season on loan at the Championship club."Stephen has gone and that's a big disappointment," added McGinn."He has been here for years. I'm sure he wanted something done and dusted and it has worked out well."He has gone down and will have a good pre-season with them after having had a good six months there."It's good that he will have the chance to push on with his own career."