Pat Bonner tells Celtic winger Mikey Johnston what he needs to do ‘from an Irish perspective’ to further his career

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Celtic’s win over Hibernian has put the spotlight back onto Mikey Johnston this week after the winger made another substitute appearance at Easter Road.

Having returned to Celtic after a successful season on loan at West Brom, Johnston is back in the green and white Hoops and, seemingly, still in Brendan Rodgers’ plans.

After failing to get off the bench despite Celtic hammering Kilmarnock 4-0 last week, Johnston managed just 15 minutes of action at Easter Road after being subbed off injured in the 2-0 win over Hibs yesterday after a clash with the Easter Road goalkeeper.

And discussing the Republic of Ireland winger’s Parkhead future, Pat Bonner and Scott Allan have told the Celtic player what he needs to do to further his career in the game.

Mikey Johnston told he needs to leave Celtic

The debate surrounding Mikey Johnston and Celtic seems to be an annual one as the winger continues to try and carve out a Parkhead career for himself but for Allan and Bonner, there isn’t one.

Allan said, “I’ve seen him at close quarters and the ability that he has.

“We speak about physicality, he went down to the Championship and made an impact in a physical league.

“For me, at his age, he’s got to go and play regular football and I don’t think it’s going to be at Celtic.”

And agreeing with his co-pundit, Bonner said that from an international stance, Johnston needs to get out of Celtic and play more first-team football.

Bonner said [BBC Radio Scotland], “Listen, from an Irish perspective, we want to see him playing games week in, week out to be ready, to be almost physically fit also when you come on.

“He’s got great feet, he’s got that wee burst of sharpness when you give him the ball. But it’s always his final ball.

“But if you’re playing games all the time, then you have a chance to iron those little things out and your touch is better and so on.

“But that’s always been the case with Mikey, his final ball but when he went down to West Brom, he was playing every week.”

Where Mikey Johnston goes at Celtic

I think I have lost count of the number of times this has been discussed on 67 Hail Hail but the fact that Johnston’s future at Celtic has been raised again is telling.

Hailed for having an ‘incredible‘ time at West Brom by Stephen O’Donnell, since making his debut in 2017, the Hoops winger has found it difficult to establish himself as a first-team regular.

Now there are mitigating circumstances such as injury problems hampering his progression and it is clear from his West Brom loan spell, his time at Vitoria Guimaraes and his international performances for the Republic of Ireland it is clear that Johnston has the talent, it just seems to be that he can’t seem to replicate those on-loan performances whenever he pulls on the green and white Hoops.

With less than three weeks left of the transfer window, it remains to be seen if Johnston will be moved on, but with Celtic still to add more quality to the squad, it could be unlikely that the winger is allowed to leave until more depth is added to the team.