James McFadden spoke about Mikey Johnston’s performance for Celtic.
James McFadden believes youngster Mikey Johnston can fill the forward role for Celtic if striker Odsonne Edouard isn’t fit enough over the festive period.
The 19-year-old, who came off the bench for the injured Edouard in the first half, scored Celtic’s third goal of the game as they secured a 3-0 win over Motherwell on Wednesday night.
Defender Anthony Ralston and winger Scott Sinclair had given their side a two-goal cushion inside the first 32 minutes before Johnston was introduced for his injured teammate.
After the match, manager Brendan Rodgers expressed his ‘concern’ to BBC Sport Scotland because Edouard was his only available striker following Leigh Griffiths’ leave of absence to deal with ‘personal issues’.
But McFadden, who is assistant to Alex McLeish for Scotland, believes the hugely talented Johnston could fill the potentially concerning role for his manager.
“He’s an exciting young player, he wants to get on the ball, he wants to take people on, he wants to commit players and he is a huge talent,” McFadden told Sky Sports News on 20/12/2018 at 11:20 am.
“He plays predominantly on the left-hand side, but he was deployed in the central role last night and it’s something as a young player it’s great because it shows the confidence Brendan Rodgers has in him. He is someone who has a massive future and he could well fill the gap left by Odsonne Edouard depending on how long he is out for.”
After that win, Celtic leapfrogged Rangers to go top of the table where they currently hold a one-point lead over their rivals with a game in hand.
Rodgers side have three games in the next nine days, starting with a home clash against bottom-of-the-table Dundee before tough away trips to Aberdeen and Rangers to close off the year.
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