Callum Osmand should not be rushed back as some kind of savior for Celtic.

Yesterday the manager gave us several updates on the fitness of players across the squad. A few of them sound close to returning to first-team involvement. That is encouraging. Nobody complains when Celtic players recover from serious long-term injuries.

However we should approach at least one of those updates with a little caution, especially when it comes to young Callum Osmand.

When Osmand picked up his injury the hype around him was enormous.

He looked sharp and confident. He looked like a player who might have something to contribute.

However if he were fully fit right now we would not simply ask him to contribute. We would almost be asking him to carry the league title on his shoulders. For that reason we must resist the temptation to treat him as the solution to our problems the moment he returns.

A major rebuild will take place this summer. That much is obvious. It does not matter who sits in the dugout. That rebuild must include two new strikers. There is simply no way around that fact. The board can hope for the best, but serious money has to be invested in the forward line.

At the same time we all know how easily certain players become overhyped.

Parts of the fan media have a habit of running away with themselves.

Today offers a good example of that tendency. Some have suggested Benjamin Arthur should start at Ibrox ahead of Austin Trusty.

That suggestion is madness. It is based on one game. Trusty has been a stalwart throughout the season and has delivered in Europe and domestically. Dropping him for a match of that magnitude after watching someone else once would be absurd.

Nevertheless this is how some people think. They watch a player once and suddenly believe he can handle any environment.

Arthur had an excellent match. Nobody denies that. In fact it is encouraging that we appear to have another good option there, even if only for the rest of the campaign. However suggesting he should displace a proven veteran stretches logic to breaking point.

Young Callum Osmand faces a similar danger. We have only seen brief glimpses of him so far.

Those glimpses suggest real promise. However a player who can contribute and a player who can lead the line are two very different things. A squad player who steps in occasionally is one thing. A striker you build a title challenge around is something else entirely.

Right now there is no evidence he can carry that responsibility. Perhaps he will prove capable in time. The only way to find out is to integrate him gradually into the team. Celtic cannot afford to wait for that process. The club must address the striker situation properly during the summer.

Football history shows that the quickest way to break a young player is to pile expectations onto him too early. That does not mean Osmand cannot carry that weight eventually. It simply means he should not carry it yet.

First he needs games as a squad player. Only after he proves he can deliver in big matches should he move into that leading role.

Assuming that problem is solved simply because he returns to the squad would be reckless thinking.

I felt genuinely gutted for the kid when he suffered his injury because he had begun to show signs of being a real find. Perhaps we do have a future star on our hands. Nobody can know that yet. Even if he were fit right now it would take time to establish. A player proves that level over months, not moments.

At present we also have a system that seems to suit none of our forwards particularly well.

Throwing Osmand into that environment would help nobody.

He has shown he can be a useful squad option. He has shown the potential to become much more. However relying on him before he proves himself would amount to gambling.

In reality he will probably not play again this season. That is no bad thing.

We are only a couple of months from the summer and a full pre-season programme. Rushing him back now would make little sense. Long-term injured players benefit far more from rebuilding fitness during the summer months.

Osmand in particular suffered a nasty injury. The club must protect him. Nobody should place unrealistic expectations on his shoulders yet.

The irony is obvious. The same people desperate to see him leading the line before the end of the campaign would probably criticise him first if he struggled. Their attention span rarely lasts longer than a minute.

Callum Osmand deserves better than that.

He needs time. He needs space to recover fully. Most importantly he needs the opportunity to return at his own pace. Right now he is not the player who saves a tight league campaign and it would be unfair to expect him to do so.

Nobody is writing him off. Some will inevitably accuse me of that anyway. The reality is much simpler.

Give the kid time. Let him get fully fit.

Then let him show us what he can do when the next season begins.