With Ange Postecoglou revealing in his press conference yesterday that Mikey Johnston is available for loan and both himself and the club are trying to find a solution, news has emerged from Belgium regarding the matter. Johnston had been linked with Standard Liege – who now boast former Hoops’ manager Ronny Deila as their head coach – with the Jupiler Pro League side looking to make a move for the young Scot.
The Celtic Star reported on this rumoured interest last week and had a follow up article stating why a move to Liege would be an ideal outcome for all the parties involved. Now it has broken via Football Scotland that the Norwegian had confirmed his interest in the 23-year-old winger. It would be a coup for the man who won two league’s in Glasgow between 2014-2016, as he is eyeing a double move to help aid his squad for the forthcoming season.
The ex-New York City boss is also eyeing up a move for his countryman Stefan Stranberg who is currently on the market free of charge after leaving Italian team Salernitana this summer. He said: “I know both of them, but we don’t know how it’s going to go. A lot of players interest us and if we could recruit all those we wanted, it would be easy.
“We continue to scrutinise the market and we don’t want it to go wrong at the moment. when we are trying to sign a player for the club.”
With Johnston being hit by one injury setback after another at Celtic Park, he has missed major opportunities to stamp his authority and stake a claim for a place in this side. A loan move to a less physical league could prove to be an absolute god-send for the homegrown academy star. He can ill afford to ignore what Deila has to say and the chances the Belgian side can offer.
It would be good to see him in Scotland up close and see him possibly feature against theRangers. However, at this particular juncture, Mikey needs a clean break from this environment entirely and push himself out of his comfort zone in a different climate and culture. We will find out in due course of the player fancies it or he is holding out for something closer to home.
He should consider wisely though…
Paul Gillespie
