Celtic winger, Mikey Johnston scored his first-ever international goal for the Republic of Ireland last night in the Euro 2024 qualifier against Gibraltar at the Aviva Stadium.
The 24-year-old has been capped three times since declaring his intentions of representing the Irish at international level. And last night, he repaid national boss, Stephen Kenny’s faith in him by netting the first goal in a 3-0 win over international minnows.
Does Mikey Johnston have a Celtic future under Brendan Rodgers?
This is a difficult one. For two reasons. The first would be that you would have to assume that with a new manager coming into the club, every player will get a chance to impress and show what they can do.
Johnston will be no different. Rodgers will be well aware that he has had a good season on loan at Vitoria Guimaraes and that he is doing well on the international stage for Ireland. So there could be a chance that he could still resurrect his Celtic career.
In fact, Johnston himself made his intentions clear not too long ago that he would love to play for the club in the coming season. So he is clearly determined to make his mark.
Secondly, and most importantly, how does he dislodge Jota and Daizen Maeda? In fact, even to get on the bench, he will have to show more than Sead Haksabanovic who has proven to be a useful impact player this season.
No doubt the season-long loan spell in Portugal has done Johnston’s confidence a world of good. Hopefully, he will return to Celtic as a better player.
The winger has certainly been impressive at international level and he will be looking to bring that back to Celtic. But, for me, I think it may prove one step too far to break into the Celtic first team. Although I do hope he proves me wrong.
In other news, Report: Celtic linked with Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
