Celtic’s Mikey Johnston won’t be going anywhere, confirms Brendan Rodgers.
Brendan Rodgers has told The Record that Mikey Johnston simply won’t be leaving Celtic on loan this month.
The 19-year-old attacker has been thrusted into the spotlight in recent weeks, and scored twice in the win over Dundee last month.
Rodgers started him in Celtic’s 1-0 defeat at Rangers last Saturday, but the youngster was disappointing and replaced with Odsonne Edouard after 60 minutes.
The Hoops are on the brink of signing Timothy Weah [Gianluca DiMarzio], and The Express reported today that progress has been made in the pursuit of Vakoun Issouf Bayo.
They are both strikers, which has led to suggestions that Rodgers could farm out Johnston for a loan spell during the second half of the season, but the Northern Irishman insists that he is going nowhere.
He told The Record: “Mikey has done well so he wouldn’t be one that goes out on loan.
“If you look at the physicality of how we play you need to have that. If you look at the physical changes in some of the players like Kieran Tierney and Ryan Christie, that is critical.
“He doesn’t need to be massive. But he does need to be able to protect the ball. He has a natural instinct. Mikey played as a striker as a kid. He has that electrifying speed that can really hurt teams in behind.”
Keeping Johnston is the smart decision. Although Weah and Bayo are highly rated, neither has kicked a ball in Scotland before and there’s no guarantee that they will both adapt quickly to life in the Premiership.
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