Celtic have a plethora of players out on loan from the club right now.
With such a huge squad depth and competition for first-team places high, Brendan Rodgers has sent no less than 13 players out on loan to get some much-needed game time. [Celtic FC]
Hyeokkyu Kwon is impressing at St Mirren and Bosun Lawal is tearing up League One in England with Charlie Adam’s Fleetwood Town.
Marco Tilio has already hit the back of the net for Melbourne FC and even Sead Haksabanovic enjoyed a purple patch of form at Stoke City.
The point is, away from the pressure of Celtic, these players are thriving, which raises question marks on when they finally return.
Can they find it within themselves to reproduce this type of form in Paradise? Only time will tell.
There is one player who has had plenty of chances to prove his worth to Celtic but, unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out.
Mikey Johnston is wowing pundits in the English media with his performances, and goals, for West Brom and has now been labelled a ‘real star’ by Sky Sports pundit, David Prutton.
Writing for Sky Sports, Prutton said, “West Brom were really good in that win over Coventry on Friday night.
“They have so much threat, and in Mikey Johnston, they have got a real star for the rest of the season. But with QPR in such good nick, I do feel this will be spoils shared.”
Let’s not rewrite the history of Johnston and how he could return to Celtic a better player. I believe that ship has sailed. Again.
After a season on loan in Portugal, the Republic of Ireland winger helped Vitoria Guimaraes to a European qualification with his performances last season.
However, in the first half of this season, Johnston has struggled to nail down a starting spot after his seventh year in the Celtic first-team.
Now at West Brom, he is flourishing. The pressure at the second-tier English club is not as intense as it is in Paradise and that is probably half of the reason he is doing so well.
The other half is that he is, after all, a talented footballer. But it’s not going to happen for him at Celtic. That much is clear.
If Johnston continues his progression down south then maybe, just maybe, he find himself a permanent move and it is one that would benefit both Johnston and Celtic.
In other news, Alan Shearer admits he’s shocked at what Chris Sutton has done since leaving Celtic
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