![\"Celtic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Celtic-Matchday-1-Training-Press-Conference.jpg\")
Celtic star Kelechi Iheanacho(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\nThe striker is on the comeback trail in a major boost for Wilfried NancyCeltic star Kelechi Iheanacho(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n
Wilfried Nancy has revealed Kelechi Iheanacho is inching closer to a return as Celtic<\/a> gear up to take on Roma.<\/p>\n Iheanacho<\/a> has been sidelined since suffering a hamstring injury in October’s Europa League clash with Sturm Graz. But the Nigerian frontman, 29, is back in full training and was an unused sub in Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat to league leaders Hearts.<\/p>\n Nancy<\/a> insists he won’t rush the ex-Man City and Sevilla striker back into action but hinted he could have a part to play against Roma. He said: \u201cHe has trained well. After that, he needs minutes. It has been a long time, two months since he really played.<\/p>\n “The way we work the players who have not played regularly we try to get them through physical work to get back into the rhythm.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the moment obviously he is not fit to play a lot of minutes but a few minutes, yes. I have to understand that also in the past they did not rotate much. So I have done my work on that. I believe we have the players to do that but it has to be step by step.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile Nancy insists he won\u2019t waste any time flying into a rage over criticism of his trainers or his tactics board.<\/p>\n The Celtic boss has taken flak on the back of Sunday\u2019s Premiership defeat to Hearts<\/a> \u2013 with Record Sport <\/strong>columnist Ryan Stevenson among those taking aim at the Frenchman\u2019s green gutties and use of a coaching aide on the touchline.<\/a><\/p>\n Nancy insisted he\u2019ll block out the noise \u2013 as his focus is on bouncing back in Thursday’s Europa League clash with Roma. He said: \u201cIt is part of the job. Maybe they are going to say something different. Understand me well, don\u2019t think that I am invincible.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not the point. But the job that I do everyone can talk about, simple as that.<\/p>\n \u201cSo why am I going to waste my time worrying about that? If I read a comment where somebody attacks me personally, I am going to lie if I tell you that doesn\u2019t touch me.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a human being, simple as that. But I decided to shut down everything. If people want to tell me that in my face it is okay. This is the way.<\/p>\n “Again, the most important thing is to control what I can control here. I know what this club means for the fans, I know the history of the club, I know the passion from the support here and I respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n Nancy has been caught up in a social media storm on the back of his Parkhead bow at the weekend.<\/p>\n But the 48-year-old revealed he will pay no attention to the internet snipers.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cPeople have the right to talk. I am going to dress one way, maybe they\u2019ll say they don\u2019t like the way I dress. I don\u2019t waste time on that. If I use it (the tactics board) it\u2019s because it\u2019s good for me. I\u2019m not saying I\u2019ll use it all the time. I will be honest. When I had the opportunity to become a coach, I always told myself to cut everything.<\/p>\n \u201cThis what I did. I cut everything on Twitter regarding my name, the club, what people can say.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have the right to say something. This is part of the job.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that I\u2019m not here to comment on everything. We can go to the restaurant and you say you don\u2019t like the food, but I like it.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, this is part of the job and I control what I can control with the players I work with to maximise our chances to win games with good performances. Again, I respect people. And criticism is part of my job.<\/p>\n \u201cBut they don\u2019t know what I want to do on the pitch, except winning. So I cannot compete with that.<\/p>\n \u201cAm I going to write to all the people and ask them why are they talking about me like that? No.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not saying I am happy with criticism and when someone comes to tell me that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there are two ways to handle it. You either ignore it. Or you take it.<\/p>\n “The thing is, we are all different in the background. I do my job and I do the best that I can. After that we will see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The striker is on the comeback trail in a major boost for Wilfried NancyCeltic star Kelechi Iheanacho(Image: SNS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[2628,1811,94,187382,1638,7081,182,79,1470,16,15,179997],"class_list":{"0":"post-625808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-celtic-fc","9":"tag-europa-league","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ryan-stevenson","12":"tag-scottish-premiership","13":"tag-scottish-professional-football-league","14":"tag-social-media","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-twitter","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-wilfried-nancy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115699755588650402","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Derek](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_JS390114783.jpg\")
Derek McInnes looks on as Wilfried Nancy shows his tactics board to Callum McGregor<\/p>\n