Celtic winger Mikey Johnston has decided to switch his international allegiance to Ireland. The Glasgow-born attacker came through the youth teams with Scotland but has failed to register with Steve Clarke’s first team prompting Stephen Kenny to sweep in and hope to persuade him to
According to The Independent.ie, Johnston will declare for Ireland. A move which will likely not be received well in Scotland, such has been the case with players like Aiden McGeady in the past.
The 23-year-old is currently on loan at Vitoria Guimaraes but he will return to the Scottish Champions at the end of the season when his spell in Portugal comes to an end. Johnston qualifies for Ireland through grandparents from Derry and it is understood that the processes have been completed with final approval outstanding from FIFA.
Johnston has had a terrible time in recent seasons with persistent injury problems. The winger has never really impressed in the limited run-outs he’s managed under Ange Postecoglou and it made sense to switch Glasgow for Portugal in the hunt of regular football. In fourteen appearances, Johnston has scored three times and assisted three times. Given his age, he still has a lot of football ahead of him and the time away from Celtic will surely enhance his abilities.
Celtic have a wealth of wide options at the manager’s disposal. Daizen Maeda, Jota, Liel Abada, James Forrest and Sead Haksabanovic are all battling for the two wide positions in Ange’s team.
They can have him, no problem. McGeady was an issue as he would actually have got into the Scotland team at that time .. but, Johnston is nowhere near good enough for Celtic or Scotland.