Greg Taylor has claimed that Mikey Johnston could be one of Celtic’s best players as long as he can stay injury-free and he takes his chance in the first-team when it comes.
Taylor was talking up his teammate after he made his first appearance of the season under Brendan Rodgers in the 0-0 draw with Hibernian.
Taylor said [The Herald Sport pull-out print edition page 6], “He’s got bags of ability, Mikey. One v one in training, he’s right up there with the best. You see his performances for Ireland, they’ve been very strong as well.
“So, Mikey’s got ability. It’s just about delivering on a consistent level. If he does that in training, then he’ll get the opportunity in games. There is a top player there.
“He’s had a tough time with injuries although I think he got a relatively consistent run in Portugal last year.
“He’s been fit pretty much all of this season although certainly he missed a chunk of pre-season.
“He’s getting consistency [with fitness]. That’s what Mikey needs to do, get the training time in and wait on his opportunity. And take it when it comes.”
Can the jury still be out on Mikey Johnston after seven years at Celtic?
Although Mikey Johnston has been at Celtic since 2008, he made his first-team debut for the club on the 6th May 2017 in a 4-1 win over St Johnstone at Celtic Park.
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Ever since then, he has only made a further 80 appearances for Celtic in all competitions. That’s an average of just over 10 games per season. [Transfermarkt]
Granted, Johnston has had injuries to contend with and he had a season-long loan spell at Vitoria Guimaraes last season but that, for me, is not a good enough return for a player who has ambitions of becoming a first-team regular.
Johnston got just over half an hour against Hibs on Saturday and although his introduction did inject a bit of attacking intent, Brendan Rodgers did highlight that the ‘exciting‘ 24-year-old did give the ball away needlessly on a few occasions during his run-out.
If Johnston can replicate his performances for the Republic of Ireland in a Celtic jersey then there’s no reason to suggest he can’t make it at the club.
Unfortunately for him though, he has been at the club for a number of years and still hasn’t made a material impact. Is the jury still out on Johnston? After seven years in the squad I think the verdict is already in.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers would have never allowed ‘powerful’ Celtic man Ange Postecoglou sold to leave the club