Balde available for Celtic

Celtic defender Bobo Balde will be back in the country in time for Sunday’s visit to Hearts.

The Hoops star has been training with Guinea ahead of the African Nations Cup but will play at Tynecastle before jetting out for the tournament.

But Alan Thompson remains doubtful after missing last week’s Tennent’s Scottish Cup tie against Ross County and Johan Mjallby and Liam Miller are still on the sidelines.

Joss Valgaeren and Ulrik Laursen have returned to full training but it is still too early for Martin O’Neill to consider recalling them to first-team action.

Provisional squad: Douglas, Balde, Sutton, McNamara, Agathe, Pearson, Lambert, Maloney, Petrov, Lennon, Wallace, Beattie, Larsson, Hartson, Hedman, Varga.