CELTIC full-back Kieran Tierney has cast doubt on his availability for Scotland’s crucial European Championship games against Cyprus and Belgium in June.

The 21-year-old has had an ongoing pubis bone injury, a problem that has disrupted both his domestic and international career this season.

Tierney travelled to Kazakhstan with Alex McLeish’s side for the opening game of the qualification campaign but could not play because of a flare-up of the injury. He returned to Glasgow and also missed the win over San Marino which came on the back of the dispiriting defeat to Kazakhstan.

Rest is the only solution to the problem and with Celtic’s season potentially finishing on May 25 with the Scottish Cup final and the Parkhead side reporting back for pre-season training on June 17, the games against Cyprus on June 8 and Belgium three days later could be an issue for Tierney who stressed that he would need to feel fully fit to play for his country.

“For my career, 100 per cent it would benefit me to rest, of course it would,” said the left-back. “But it’s up to Scotland and Celtic to talk about that. I’m not here saying I want to pull out but I do want what’s best for the country and if I go there and I’m not completely fit, that won’t be the case.

“If I go and I’m ready, then it is what it is. But our physio Tim Williamson does both, and he’ll know what’s best for everyone. You need to look after yourself sometimes as well, and if I can’t go there 100-per-cent fit, what’s the point? As it stands just now I’m fine.”

The problem Tierney has is essentially one of overuse. Since breaking into the first-team under Ronny Deila in 2015 he has been an ever-present in Celtic’s starting line-up, regularly tallying up between 50 and 60 games over the course of the season. And while he has dismissed the theory that an operation would improve his condition, he has acknowledged his frustration in having to nurse himself through it.

“I’ve heard so often that it’s my hip, that I’ve got Andy Murray’s hip, that I’m going for an op – it’s all news to me!” he said. “It’s my pubis bone, and it’s just through overuse. The intensity of our games and training, the number of games, and it’s been non-stop for me since I was 17 - it’s just caught up.

“But it’s nothing too serious. I’m playing, I’m training and I’m getting through it fine.

“After the game it’ll feel a bit stiff but that’s expected, but lots of people who’ve had it have told me I’ll be fresh when I’ve had a break.

“It’ll take a few weeks of doing nothing to recover the full body. it’s not just the pubis, you need to recover your legs as well.

“And at Celtic, to get a good break, you then come straight back into Champions League qualifiers so we all need the break.

“It’s hard but I know I’m doing all I can, being as professional as I can be, working the gym and training ground hard. I’ve spoken to other guys in the team who’ve had this injury and they’re reassuring me that it goes away and you make a full recovery eventually.”

Interim Celtic manager Neil Lennon has confirmed that the likelihood is that Tierney will need to shut down in order to allow his body to repair.

“Eventually KT will have to have a rest,” he said.

“He can’t keep going with a couple of weeks off in the summer and then back into it because you are going to break down. He is playing high level, high intensity professional football week-in, week-out, and it is going to take its toll. He is only 21 and he has got an ongoing injury problem. He is that good that you don’t want to leave him out but eventually he has going to have to have a break at some stage because it is impossible to keep that going.

“It is a young developing body as well so it will take its toll."