VICTOR WANYAMA is embroiled in a club versus country tug-of-war – which Celtic have no intention of losing.
The midfielder, pictured, has been named in Kenya's squad for their international against Jamaica, to be played in East Hartford, Connecticut, on August 25.
But that day Celtic are playing Inverness Caley in the Highlands, and Neil Lennon is not minded to allow the 21-year-old leave of absence to play for the Harambee Stars. However, Kenya's newly-appointed coach, James Nandwa, has made it clear he is optimistic Wanyama, and the two other players named in his squad who play their football out with their homeland, will be available for a game which has been sanctioned by Fifa.
He said: "We have to improve our Fifa ranking as well as give these players exposure."
The Kenyan FA claim they have received a positive response from Wanyama regarding his participation, but are now awaiting permission from Celtic for him to travel.
Even though Celtic would have more than enough players available to cover for Wanyama's absence, agreeing to allow the player to fly to the States and back for a friendly match just four days before the SPL champions face Helsingborgs in the second leg of their Champions League play-off is a non-starter.
He is suspended for the first leg which will be played in Sweden on Tuesday. Lennon is keeping his fingers crossed Scott Brown will recover from his hip injury in time to return for that match.
The captain, along with James Forrest and Paddy McCourt, who are suffering from groin problems, were given injections to help their recovery last weekend while the bulk of the squad was in Philadelphia to play Real Madrid.
Lennon explained that will rule them out of tomorrow's game at Dingwall, but said they should be able to play 10 days after the jags.
Wanyama was one of the players who missed the trip last weekend. Along with Georgios Samaras and Mikael Lustig, Lennon decided they would be better rested after playing for their countries during the close season.
Lennon was unhappy that several of his players, including Samaras, Lustig, Thomas Rogne, Beram Kayal, Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley and Adam Matthews, were all involved in friendly internationals this midweek.