Israeli FA accused of 'disrespect' by Neil Lennon after Beram Kayal injury

Lennon believes Celtic have had a raw deal from a number of countries when releasing players for international duty and has called on foreign football organisations to treat Celtic with more respect in future.

Kayal was taken from the field on a stretcher in the first half of Israel's 4-3 friendly defeat to the Ivory Coast on Wednesday night following a challenge from Chelsea star Didier Drogba. However, Lennon, who has a host of other injury worries to contend with, was unaware of the extent of the injury until Kayal returned to Glasgow.

Left-back Emilio Izaguirre broke his ankle at Aberdeen last week and could be out for six months, while central defender Glenn Loovens is out for another month with a hamstring injury. Skipper Scott Brown also suffered an ankle knock playing for Scotland against Denmark at Hampden in midweek, which leaves him in doubt for the visit of United.

Lennon, though, believes he should have been informed sooner about his Israeli midfielder.

"I am not happy with the Israeli FA, there has been a lack of communication between their medical team and my medical team," said the Celtic manager.

"Kayal got a bad one. It was a big impact from the tackle, he rolled his ankle and it is still quite swollen so he is obviously a major doubt for tomorrow.

"But we only knew the extent of the injury when we saw Beram yesterday, so that is something that needs to be addressed.

"It's not the first time that's happened to us. It has happened with other countries. Cha (Du-ri] played last year (for South Korea] when he was injured and we lost him for a few weeks after that.

"I'm just disappointed by the way we are being treated when we are good enough to let our players go. I think there is a professional respect, there is a duty there that they should be straight on the phone to our football club and let us know the extent of the injury."

Lennon continued: "Scott Brown is a doubt, he got a bit of a bang and rolled his ankle but it is not as severe as Beram's so I am hoping he can make it for tomorrow, but if not he should be okay for Thursday (the Europa League play-off first leg against Sion]."

The Northern Irishman believes his squad have been cursed by bad luck in the early weeks of the season. "Injuries can happen at any time but it is so early in the season," said Lennon.

"Izaguirre is out long-term and Loovens is out for four to six weeks, and if we lose these two guys tomorrow it is a blow for us. I think it is just bad luck.Scott's challenge was 50-50 and he came out of it awkwardly.

"I haven't seen Beram's challenge but it seems it was pretty bad, and Emilio's was down to pure bad luck. It is disappointing but it gives them plenty of time to recover and still feature in the season."

In addition to his injury worries, Lennon claimed the international break has left him with little time to plan for the game against United. "We had 16 players away this week and I have not seen the majority of them until today," he said.