It’s a cruel end to Johnny Kenny’s loan spell at Bolton Wanderers.
The Celtic loanee moved to the League One side during the January transfer window, hit the ground running, and helped them maintain their play-off status.
Several weeks ago, Kenny did pick up an injury, but he swiftly returned to action, only now to have his season cut short, just when Bolton needed him most, because they are in the middle of their play-off matches.
As you can understand, Bolton boss Steven Schumacher was gutted by Kenny’s season-ending injury, as it happened before their first-leg play-off semi-final clash against Bradford City.
“Unfortunately, Kenny is going to miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury,” said Schumacher. “So disappointing for him. Disappointing for the team.”
Does Johnny Kenny have a long-term future at Celtic?
Steven Schumacher reacts as Celtic loanee Johnny Kenny picks up a knee injury
Kenny was a regular starter for Bolton, finding form that he just wasn’t able to muster up in the colours of Celtic.
Just as the Republic of Ireland star finally found his rhythm and potentially a permanent home for next season, he has been agonisingly forced to watch from the sidelines while both Bolton and his parent club, Celtic, push for late-season glory.
From Bolton’s perspective, they beat Bradford 1-0 on home soil to take an advantage going into the return leg of their play-off encounter, creating many chances, without really putting their opponents away.
That’s probably where Kenny was a miss, but Schumacher, albeit gutted by this injury news, tried to remain upbeat post-match when speaking to Wanderers TV.
“It was (a blow),” said Schumacher about Kenny’s injury. “He is somebody who has been good for us. Really enjoyed working with. He has been a threat for us. Scored goals.
“Unfortunately, he is going to miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury, so disappointing for him. Disappointing for the team.
“We will miss Kenny, but we have enough players to still be match winners.”
Kenny’s record at Bolton
If Bolton get promoted via the play-offs, then it will be interesting to see if they go back in for Kenny.
One thing you can’t deny is that he has made a positive impact, so in that sense, he has a lot of admirers, both the Bolton fans and the staff.
It also needs to be noted that he joined the English club midway through the season, so imagine what he could do if he had a pre-season under his belt?
Either way, this is Kenny’s record at Bolton, and hopefully, he has done enough for Celtic to sell him and use that money to boost the squad elsewhere.
- Games: 14
- Starts: 11
- Minutes per game: 69
- Goals: 6
- Assists: 3
- Team of the week: 1
- Sofascore rating: 7.07
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