It’s all well and good signing someone who you know has a passion and burning desire to play for the club, but they need to be good enough to add some quality to the first team too.
Johnny Russell has had a decent career without ever lighting it up anywhere. He always seems like the kind of player who isn’t clinical enough to play through the middle but his work ethic see him make a decent contribution from the wider areas.
He’s not really a winger either, which might be why he’s never truly managed to nail down a spot for Scotland. He currently plays for Kansas City Wizards but has spoken to the BBC about his long term desire to play for Celtic.
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He revealed that Celtic did make an offer for him when he was at Dundee United but he eventually ended up signing for Derby County instead. It seems the English side offered Dundee United more money so he didn’t have a choice.
Speaking about the possible move Russell said: “I’m happy where I am, but I’m a Celtic fan. The season I went to Derby there was a bid made but Derby offered more, so there was never a choice.”
He’s now 29 with 12 months left on his contract with the MLS side so this could be his last chance to make the dream move.
The problem is seeing where he would actually fit in. Realistically if everybody was fit then he would be behind Edouard and Griffiths for a spot up front, you could probably argue Bayo is a better player too.
In terms of the wide left position he’s not better than the likes of Scotty Sinclair, Mikey Johnston or Elyounoussi. He could possibly be a Jonny Hayes standard player in the squad who is versatile and a hard worker, but it would be a tough one to get excited about.
At this point in his career he shouldn’t be an overly expensive signing, but you have to feel he would simply be another body in the squad rather than a regular contributor.
