On-loan Celtic man receives glowing praise as he is labelled ‘best player’ in league by teammate

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Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers will be keeping a keen eye over the catalogue of loan players he has plying their trade elsewhere ahead of next season.

In January, the Irishman elected to let several of his fringe men leave temporarily to gain regular senior minutes.

Hyeokkyu Kwon, Marco Tilio and, belatedly, Alexandro Bernabei were among those to depart, with the latter probably being the most unlikely out of the three to have a long-term future at Parkhead.

Republic of Ireland international Mikey Johnston was also farmed out to West Bromwich Albion for the remainder of the season, and he has gone on to have quite the impact at the Hawthorns Stadium.

Across his opening ten appearances for the Baggies, the 24-year-old has racked up six goals and one assist, honing his craft under the stewardship of highly-rated manager Carlos Corberan [Transfermarkt].

Undoubtedly, the Celtic academy graduate looks to have found his feet south of the border, leading to suggestions that his stay could be made permanent at West Brom.

Speaking earlier month, former England international Carlton Palmer stated: “Johnston is still under contract at Celtic, but it will be one of those at the end of the season where talks take place. I think West Brom should be looking to bring him to the club on a permanent basis.”

Either way, Johnston is back playing with a smile on his face and has given Rodgers some food for thought if he is to return in the summer.

On-loan Celtic man Mikey Johnston receives glowing appraisal

Johnston has added a different dimension in attack at West Brom, which isn’t lost on their captain Jed Wallace, who has delivered some lofty praise to his teammate in a recent interview.

The former Portsmouth winger has claimed that Johnston may be the best-performing player across the whole Sky Bet Championship while also complementing the Irishman for stepping out of his comfort zone to move to the West Midlands.

He stated [Express & Star]: “Right now, for me, he’s the best player in the league at the moment, the way he’s playing.”

Wallace then added: “He actually said to me after the QPR game ‘maybe I should’ve played you in on one of them’ and I said ‘the way you’re playing you just kick it towards the goal and we’ll go from there!’ He’s on fire at the moment. Jonno’s been brilliant and I’m happy for him.

“When you’re at a big club like Celtic and people there maybe don’t believe in him maybe as much as he would like, confidence-wise, it’s great to see people step outside their comfort zone, come here and do well. We needed that in January.”

Confidence is a wonderful thing in football, and Johnston now looks to have it in spades despite an inconsistent first half of the 2023/24 campaign at Parkhead, where he netted twice in 12 outings.

Celtic have also landed themselves in a win-win scenario, where they either have a rejuvenated player return to the ranks in the summer, or we could sell the Glasgow-born man at a premium.