Alistair Johnston’s World Cup campaign with Canada is over, meaning he can now put the finishing touches to his proposed move to Celtic.
The latest on this widely-reported deal came from respected Major League Soccer journalist Tom Bogert earlier this week, who said Celtic had beaten other European clubs to his signature and that the switch was ‘all but done’.
However, when asked about the interest prior to Canada’s match with Croatia earlier in the group, Johnston made it clear he was entirely focusing on his efforts with the national team before confirming his future club intentions.
The Canadians played their final group stage match this afternoon, losing to surprise group winners Morocco.
Celtic have already completed a deal to bring Yuki Kobayashi to the club from Vissel Kobe in Japan so are unlikely to mess about with Johnston’s deal, especially if Ange Postecoglou gets the opportunity to bring him into the squad group for December training.
Yuki Kobayashi is already on his way to Scotland despite not being able to play competitively before January 1st.
Johnston will obviously get a bit of time off after his exertions in Qatar, having played in all three group stage matches, but we should now see official movement on his big move to the Bhoys.
He’ll arrive to provide serious competition at right-back, where Anthony Ralston and Josip Juranovic have excelled over the last 18 months. At the very least, Johnston’s arrival protects against a potential Juranovic exit and the hope will be he can raise standards regardless of the Croatian’s status.
Let’s hope this one can be confirmed in the coming days!
In other news, The Josip Juranovic verdict as Celtic defender books place in World Cup knockouts.
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