Johnston played 13 times for Celtic during the first half of the season.
Mikey Johnston will be wondering what he has done wrong of late, after breaking into the Celtic side and just as quickly being ousted from Brendan Rodgers’ plans.
The 19-year-old attacker has managed just 101 minutes of senior football for Celtic since the turn of the year, despite featuring 13 times before the winter break and the January transfer window.
But in January, Vakoun Issouf Bayo, Oliver Burke and Timothy Weah all joined the Hoops and have revived Celtic’s attack, winning seven on the bounce without conceding a goal.
Johnstone had previously impressed during the first half of the campaign, being given a run of games with Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard sidelined. He scored against Dundee, and a brace at home to Motherwell.
Now, he is struggling for game time at Celtic, and surely the youngster will be thinking a move away from Celtic on loan in January would have been more favourable.
At 19 years of age and 20 senior Celtic appearances, his next stage of development has to be regular first-team football. With Burke, Weah and Bayo above him, and Edouard returning from injury – Johnston has little chance of action.
Breaking into Brendan Rodgers’ starting eleven is now beyond Johnston between now and the end of the season, so it looks as though the odd substitute appearance will be the most he can hope for.
Surely going out on loan in January to a lower Scottish Premiership side, or even down south would have been more beneficial to both Johnston and Celtic. Instead, his development could now stutter by remaining at Celtic this month.
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