On loan Celtic winger Mikey Johnston has given a clear hint to his future at Celtic and whether he will come back and play for the hoops long term.
The player has been in the news for the past week or so since he made the decision to play for the Republic of Ireland after not being deemed good enough to get anywhere near the Scotland national team under Steve Clarke, who has just signed a contract extension until 2026.
Some supporters and bloggers got excited after seeing Johnston come on for Ireland in a friendly against Latvia after he pulled off a nice bit of skill to go by a couple of players before having his shot on goal blocked.
It even lead some to say based on that 10 second clip alone that Johnston, who has scored three goals so far this season, is a readymade replacement for Liel Abada should he indeed be sold in the summer.
When playing for Celtic, Johnston was often booed and moaned at by sections of the Celtic Park crowd whenever he featured and was constantly lambasted by Celtic fans on social media for his performances.
The constant negativity aimed at Johnston appeared to have a detrimental impact on his confidence and performances and the decision was taken by Ange Postecoglou to send him out of the country on loan to Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes.
Addressing his long term future at Celtic, Johnston told the Record:
“Vitoria has been a great platform for me. They are in a big league and it’s really competitive. I have had a lot of starts, a lot of games [and] a lot of consistency, which is what I needed.”
“Will I be back at Celtic long-term? We will see. I don’t want to sit on the bench, I just want to feel important.”
To play in this Celtic team you need to be bang at it every game if you want to be starting, but you also need to be willing to accept a place on the bench and come on and make an impact when the manager decides to bring you on, because that’s what all our other wingers are doing at the moment.
I’m sure they’d all like to start, but guys likes Haksabanovic and Abada aren’t complaining about it, they are coming on and working hard and scoring goals and influencing games when they do come on.
If Johnston “doesn’t want to sit on the bench” and “just wants to feel important”, unless he has improved drastically where he is good enough to start every game for us, then judging by those comments, I can’t see his long term future being at Celtic.
Under Ange Postecoglou, you work hard every day and prove that you are good enough to be playing, and if you want to “feel important” then you actually have to prove that you are.
