Interim Celtic manager John Kennedy has tried his best to keep morale high this week, by effectively confirming that he’ll be giving some of the forgotten players a run-out.
Celtic wrap up a disastrous 2020/21 campaign on Saturday at Easter Road against Hibernian. However, that comes after tonight’s clash against St Johnstone at Parkhead. Unsurprisingly, nobody is really excited.
The potential return of Vasilis Barkas has given the Celtic fans something to get up for. But in truth, there’s nothing else worth talking about.
Kennedy will try to keep things interesting regardless. He says he’s going to utilise his full squad for a change [Celtic Website], so here we take a look at three forgotten Celtic players who could return this week:
1. Mikey Johnston
Mikey Johnston’s electric start to season 2019/20 feels a long time ago now. He would suffer nasty ACL damage at McDiarmid Park in January last year.
Johnston would then make a return to first-team action back in December. However, after a flurry of starts and substitute appearances, he dropped out of the reckoning with yet another knock.
He’s recently returned and featured for 15 minutes in the 4-1 loss at Ibrox last week. This summer is colossal for Mikey, who really should be looking to make the left-wing spot his own.
With Mohamed Elyounoussi heading back to parent club Southampton this summer, it’s there for Mikey. Kennedy already showed his intention to give him some more minutes in Govan.
Don’t be surprised if he bags a start either tonight or Saturday. The Celtic fans could do with some of his trickery and excitement.
2. Albian Ajeti
It’s time to be straight up – Albian Ajeti just hasn’t been good enough when he’s been given a run in the side. At this stage, you can’t say he hasn’t had his opportunities.
When he first came into the club, he banged home five goals in his first six league matches. But after that, he went on a horrid run of no goals in four months. Even more worrying was that he wasn’t showing any positive attributes either. His hold-up play became sloppy whilst he looked overweight and struggling with his fitness.
This was something Ajeti would admit to back in February after ending his goal drought at Rugby Park [Scottish Sun]. Former boss Neil Lennon granted him a run in the team afterward, and again he just failed to impress. He started fixtures against Motherwell, St Mirren, and Aberdeen respectively, and looked anonymous in all of them.
Kennedy hasn’t started him since his first match in charge. However, given he’s looking to freshen things up, he may give Ajeti another chance to get some morale back.
He’s a striker badly in need of a goal or two. Get him in tonight at home to St Johnstone and let’s see if he can change his fortunes.
3. Anthony Ralston
No, we’re not saying that Anthony Ralston is good enough for Celtic in the long term. We’re certainly not saying he should be considered for any sort of major role next season either.
However, why bother playing Jonjoe Kenny any longer? Surely it’s time to give it to someone at the very least contracted to the club. It’s not as if we’re going to reap any rewards by keeping Kenny in the side.
To be honest, it’s not as if the on-loan Everton man has even proven himself to be better than academy graduate Ralston. It would make sense to give the latter some minutes ahead of what will be an important summer window for him.
Anthony has only made one appearance for Celtic all season – the 0-0 draw with Livingston back in mid-January. With a Parkhead contract that expires in 2022 [Transfermarkt], Ralston still has a longer future here than Kenny.
Therefore, give him a runout and let’s see where he’s at these days. At the very least he’ll try to go past his man unlike the man currently playing ahead of him.
In other news, take a look at how Celtic fans reacted to a potential Vasilis Barkas return.
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