Mikey Johnston is hoping that his latest string of displays for the Republic of Ireland can help him gain access to more minutes for Celtic…
The homegrown talent has been one of many who has been resigned to watching from the outside at Celtic Park as manager Brendan Rodgers relies on his tried and tested stalwarts to lead his assault on the Scottish Premiership and European football this year.
The winger has been one of the unfortunate ones who has been on those fringes and starved of regular football, despite doing well when called up by his national side of late. Johnston won a Man of the Match award for his performance against New Zealand in a friendly match-up this week. It comes after another strong showing in Ireland’s Euro qualifying campaign, with Mikey one of the few bright sparks.
After the match with New Zealand last night, he was quizzed about whether this can catch Brendan Rodgers’ attention back at his club and he agreed it wouldn’t do him any harm.
“It could do,” he said, as reported by Football Scotland. “I’ve obviously not scored or assisted which is what I wanted to do but getting man of the match is nice. I enjoyed myself, and playing in an Ireland shirt, I love it at the moment.
“There’s a lot of boys who haven’t played that deserve opportunities tonight that got them and we played some good football, but I enjoyed myself out there. I’ve not had as much game time as I would have liked this year so I’m trying to make as much of an impact as I can with the fitness I have at the moment.”
With matches coming thick and fast for Celtic once the action resumes against Motherwell this weekend, Johnston could be called upon both domestically and even in European football as we head towards the Christmas period.
With Luis Palma and Daizen Maeda both suspended for our match against Lazio, and Maeda missing anyway through an injury he picked up against Atletico Madrid in the Civitas Metropolitano, Mikey could have one last throw of the dice in a Celtic shirt these next few weeks.
If that doesn’t materialise then his name could be included in the manager’s list of January exits as he looks to reduce the size of the squad while adding additional quality signings. Let’s say Brendan Rodgers wants to bring in three players but also wishes to reduce the size of the squad by six. That would mean nine players leaving, with seems a steep target and will need a ruthless approach from the club in sorting out loan deals or permanent transfers.
And at some stage the role of the Celtic Academy in being allowed to deliver squad players for the first team in order to allow them to develop towards the first team must be clarified. At the moment it looks like a difficult door to open.
Paul Gillespie
