Colby Donovan leaves Scotland U21 squad to return to Lennoxtown

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The Celtic Star

·18 November 2025

Colby Donovan leaves Scotland U21 squad to return to Lennoxtown

Celtic’s Colby Donovan has left the Scotland U21 squad to return to Lennoxtown to have his injury further assessed by the club, after he suffered a nasty ankle injury in Gibraltar in the Euro qualifier at the weekend in a match the young Scots won 2-0…

Scotland U21s are back in action this evening, this time at Fir Park, Motherwell against Bulgaria, but the Celtic right back will not be involved after the injury picked up in Gibraltar.

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The Scotland Under 21 Head Coach Scott Gemmill yesterday gave an update on Colby Donovan, which suggests that the player is set to have some time on the sidelines but hopefully it’s not as bad as first feared.

Colby Donovan is injured. Photo Scottish FA

“He’s gone back to his club,” Gemmill said, as reported by The Herald. “We arrived at 5 o’clock on Sunday, but he has gone back to Celtic. He’s too sore to play, but the X-ray was clear.

“The level of care he got in Gibraltar was fantastic, as he went straight to the hospital, straight in for an X-ray, and actually back in the hotel in time to eat his dinner!

“I think with those injuries, you just can’t take any risk. It was clear that he couldn’t continue. Hopefully, his ankle can settle down quickly – there’s a chance that Celtic may choose to do their own scan, but that’s obviously a decision they’ll make.”

With Alistair Johnston sidelined for an extended period after undergoing surgery to address his ongoing hamstring problem, and now with Colby Donovan joining the extended injury list at Lennoxtown, Martin O’Neill currently has just Anthony Ralston available as the last right back standing in the Celtic squad at the moment.

Alistair Johnston of Celtic lies injured during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Hopefully he comes through tonight’s World Cup Finals decider with Denmark – with Kasper Schmeichel in goals for the Danes – unscathed. Same goes for Kieran Tierney who was an unused substitute in the match in Greece at the weekend.

Colby Donovan made his first team debut for Celtic in the 3-0 win over Livingston at Celtic Park back in August 2025 and followed that with his first start at Kilmarnock at the beginning of September. His European debut came in the ill-fated Champions League play-off, away to Kairat Almaty and his got his first European start in Belgrade in the opening match of Celtic’s Europa League campaign against Red Star.

Colby Donovan of Celtic is seen during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Celtic FC and SK Sturm Graz at Celtic Park on October 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

So far Colby has had eight first team appearances, all under Brendan Rodgers, and the most recent being against Hearts which turned out to be Brendan’s final match in charge of Celtic. He has not featured in the four matches under Celtic’s interim management team of Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney.

Hopefully Colby’s injury is not too serious and he’ll be back in action for Celtic quickly.

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