Flamengo president Luiz Eduardo Baptista has revealed that he blocked a potential transfer for former Celtic winger Mikey Johnston amid doubts about his injury record…
However, in an apparent internal conflict between manager and board, Filipe Luis, the boss of the Rio de Janeiro side, confessed he was keen to bring the ex-Hoops academy graduate on board.
The Ireland international was left devastated after his unexpected £4.5 million transfer to Flamengo fell through in bizarre fashion last week.
The club’s president later clarified that he personally reversed their decision upon reviewing his history of injuries.
Speaking via Glasgow Times, Baptista said: “Why not Mikey Johnston? Because the club’s medical report said he would be fit to play for 1,800 minutes a season.”
“How many has he played this season? 900. So am I going to bring in a player to play 900 minutes when I still have to play another 4,000 minutes?”
“These are decisions you have to make. It’s not personal against the player. It’s for Flamengo. He may be a great athlete, a great professional, but for Flamengo’s needs, at this moment, in my opinion, he wasn’t ideal.”
In reality, Johnston played 2,078 minutes for West Brom in the English Championship last season, contrary to the 900 minutes stated by Flamengo’s president.
On the possibility of signing Johnston, Flamengo boss Luis outlined: “Obviously, I approved the transfer. They sent me the videos, his characteristics, and I approved. That’s all I can say.”
This seems like such an unfortunate episode for Mikey who has been denied a financially life-changing move to a city that neighbours Rio.
Nonetheless, it has been positive to see the now 26 year-old winger play regularly in a decent league providing him a platform to impress.
With Ryan Mason becoming his new manager at West Brom, the Baggies will be pushing for promotion to the Premier League next season, and you would assume Mikey will have a big part to play in that.
Conor Spence
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