Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has revealed that his career could be over after suffering a ‘devastating’ shoulder injury.
Schmeichel, 39, has been playing through pain since hurting his left shoulder for Denmark last year and aggravated the problem against Stuttgart last month.
He has sat out the last five matches for Martin O’Neill’s side and was given the diagnosis on a visit to a specialist on Monday.
Speaking to CBS Sports Golazo Network, Schmeichel said: ‘I’m going to need two surgeries now to fix my shoulder.
‘It’s a bit of a body blow. I’ve torn the bicep, torn the rotator cuff, dislocated the shoulder, torn the labrum – everything’s kind of gone. It’s looking like 10-12 months of rehab.
‘You don’t really know how to react to this. I could have potentially played my last ever football game. I’ve been a footballer since the day I was born. That kind of thought is devastating. It’s very, very hard to wrap my head around at the moment.’
Schmeichel, 39, has been playing through pain since hurting his left shoulder for Denmark last year and aggravated the problem against Stuttgart last month
The former Leicester No 1, who followed in his father Peter Schmeichel’s footsteps with a career that has extended over two decades, won the Premier League with Leicester in 2016
The former Leicester No 1, who followed in his father Peter Schmeichel’s footsteps with a career that has extended over two decades, won the Premier League with Leicester in 2016 as well as the FA Cup five years later.
After making over 400 appearances for the Foxes Schmeichel departed for Nice in 2022. He also spent a short spell at Anderlecht before joining the Scottish side in 2024.
He has vowed to fight for his career through what is expected to be a lengthy rehabilitation process after he goes under the knife on Friday.
‘My mind is like, “OK, I’m going to give it absolutely everything I can to see if I can get back”,’ he said.
‘It would be probably one of the greatest feats of my career if I could get back from an injury like this. I’m going to fight, I’m going to try everything I can.’
Despite a positive first season between the sticks his form has dipped this season, and he was booed by a section of Celtic fans last months after conceding two softs goals in their 4-1 defeat by Stuttgart.
The Dane was slow to get down to the first of Bilal El Khannouss’ two goals and made a poor attempt to claw away a low drive from Jamie Leweling.
And his blunders went down badly with a Celtic support base who were already protesting against the club’s board by throwing balls on to the pitch to interrupt the game in the opening minutes of the match.
Schmeichel was criticised for his performance against Stuttgart in the Europa League last month, after conceding two softs goals in their 4-1 defeat
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton said on X: ‘This is a bang average Celtic team outclassed by an OK Stuttgart team. Schmeichel has been a top-class keeper but he’s becoming a liability and he’s not the only one…’
Hoops manager O’Neil defended Schmeichel after the match, saying: ‘Kasper has made some great saves while I’ve been here. This is a collective, there’s no doubt about that.
‘I will think about all sorts of things [before the next game], but Kasper has done really well since I’ve arrived at the football club.’
Schmeichel’s last appearance for Celtic was the game that followed, a 2-1 loss to Hibernian.
Finland shot-stopper Viljami Sinisalo has continued to deputise in Schmeichel’s absence.