This international break has been one of mixed fortunes for some of Celtic’s players.
After the heartache and drama that Luis Palma suffered, another Celtic winger enjoyed the adulation of the media after his Man of the Match performance for his country.
Mikey Johnston put in another breathtaking performance for the Republic of Ireland last night. And despite only drawing 1-1 with New Zealand, the Celtic winger was lauded for his display that clearly delighted the watching Irish media.
Johnston has been impressing recently for the Republic and was labelled as ‘an exciting player‘ by Ireland legend, Ray Houghton, in the last international break.
Mikey Johnston is ‘Ireland’s best player’
The media in Ireland are certainly loving the 24-year-old Celtic winger. Recently lauding Johnston for ‘causing havoc‘ against Gibraltar, they have been equally as lavish with his praise after turning up against New Zealand.
Extra.ie: “7 – Made a lighting start to the fixture with jinking runs on the left flank, worrying the opposition. Showcased some fine skills too, lifting the crowd.”
Balls.ie: “8 – Johnston attempted to inject a bit of energy into Ireland’s play whenever he got on the ball, with his dribbling ability causing real problems for the New Zealand defence.
“He delivered some wonderful balls into the box, although he was unfortunate that few of them found Irish teammates.
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“Ireland’s best player on the night.”
RTE: “Great skill by Johnston, a drag back to create space but Knight can’t get up high enough to turn the cross into a threat on goal. Johnston has been excellent so far, strange to think he has only played 25 minutes so far this season for Celtic.”
This is not the first time that Johnston’s game time at Celtic has come into question. His international manager, Stephen Kenny, also questioned why he wasn’t being picked for the Hoops after he claimed he was ‘too good not to be playing football‘.
The problem Mikey has is that ahead of him he has players like Daizen Maeda, Luis Palma and Hyunjun Yang who are all enjoying a rich vein of form at the club right now.
He may well be too good to be sitting on a bench but what he has to do right now is convince Brendan Rodgers that he’s good enough to be starting in front of the aforementioned three for Celtic.
And clearly, he is not doing enough as Johnston has only had 25 minutes of football against Hibs this season and it’s fair to say he didn’t impress.
It’s clear Johnston is going to struggle for gametime this season as he looks like he may be one that the Celtic manager may look to move on in January.
In other news, 23-year-old Celtic player expected to leave on loan in January, he wants move back