Mikey Johnson has been something of a miss for Celtic. How we would have liked to see his pace and skill in the wide areas in the first half of this season, especially with the James Forrest being ruled out through injury.
The winger was described as one of the best young talents that Damien Duff has ever seen, during his time as a coach at Parkhead. We saw flashes of this with some lovely goals against Rennes, Sarajevo and others. However, he has spent months on the sidelines with a serious ligament injury.
Johnson re-emerged in the team in the last few weeks and scored a penalty kick in the Quadruple Treble clinching Scottish Cup final.
Speaking to Celtic TV, Johnson reflected on his return to fitness and his ambitions for the rest of the season:
“It makes me so happy being out on the pitch,” he said. “Obviously, being out for so long was hard and there was a lot of hard work that had to in to get myself back where I am, so I’m just happy to be back on the pitch with the boys again.
“It can be frustrating, not being able to effect things on the pitch when you’re out, especially in the games where we’ve been struggling a bit recently. We weren’t even allowed to go to the games because of the COVID stuff, so that was tough, having to watch it from the couch in the house. It was tough, but I’m just happy to be back.
“I thought the penalty in the cup final would be a good way to bounce back after so long. I think it’d have been something I’d have regretted for the rest of my life if I didn’t take it, to score a penalty in a Scottish Cup final, so I’m just buzzing that I’ve done it.”
Speaking at the club’s mid-season training camp in Dubai, Johnston added: “The high-intensity sessions in Dubai have been hard. The heat definitely makes it harder, but the sessions were good, they were really competitive and the boys worked really hard.
“The defeat at Ibrox was a tough one to take, but everyone was out there with a good mind-set and working hard every day. We’ve got a lot of games coming up after the break and the camp was a great opportunity to get fit, work really hard and I think we made the most of it.”
You can view the full interview below:
