Mikey Johnston has had a strange Celtic career, and now at the age of 24 the main question surrounding the Irishman is where did it all go wrong?
Mikey’s recent exploits for the national team, combined with injuries to Liel Abada and piotentially Daizen Maeda, may have opened the door for a return to the fold for Johnston.
Having never kicked a ball for Celtic since Brendan Rodgers returned, just how likely is the resurrection of Mikey Johnston?
Early days and deficiencies in his game
Johnston was given his first starting opportunities in a Celtic shirt by none other than current Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, who shocked fans by giving the 18-year-old a start in a 4-1 home win against St Johnstone on 6th May 2017.
As a promising youngster, he got fans excited and off their seats with his pace, trickery, and willingness to take on a man.The future looked bright under Brendan Rodgers for the young winger.
There were deficiencies in Mikey’s game, with an indecisiveness in the final third, particularly in front of goal, seeming to hold the player’s progress back. This is the sort of issue that can be ironed out, but that would require a consistent run of games in the first team.
These opportunities have often been few and far between, and Mikey endured a stop-start first few years at the club. A large part of these irregular appearances was his tendency to pick up injuries, which have plagued his Celtic career.
That’s not to say there haven’t been flashes of brilliance, with his standout performance being his role in a 3-1 Europa League group stage victory over French side Rennes at Celtic Park in 2019.
Minutes were proving harder to come by under Ange Postecoglou, who eventually sent the player on loan to Vitoria Guimaraes in the summer of 2022. Prior to that loan move, Ange commented that, “There’s definitely a talented footballer there, but sometimes you just need a different environment to help that happen”.
Portuguese loan spell
Mikey’s loan spell in Portugal was a mixed bag, with most Portuguese football experts stating that he had a knack of producing moments of magic but he failed to do this consistently enough.
He returned to Glasgow this summer with more minutes in a single season than he had ever managed at Celtic, and he had also broke into Stephen Kenny’s Ireland side.
Despite these successes, many expected the player to leave in the summer, but Rodgers kept him around, even including him in the most recent Champions League squad.
Form for Ireland and current place in the team
Johnston may have been disheartened by the summer signings of Yang Hyun-jun, Marco Tilio and Luis Palma which would have forced him even further down the pecking order.
His only real minutes over the last few weeks have come for the Republic of Ireland national team, switching allegiances from Scotland earlier this year.
The winger has impressed in six appearances for the national team, always looking like causing problems for the opposition and grabbing two goals in those half-a-dozen games.
Those performances, combined with the injuries to Liel Abada and potentially Daizen Maeda, have opened the door for Johnston to appear in the squad for Sunday’s trip to Tynecastle, but it is up to Johnston to finally grasp that opportunity if it arises.
JAMES MCKENZIE // Follow James HERE
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