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It has been reported by the Daily Record that Aberdeen are interested in taking Celtic winger Mikey Johnston on loan for the second-half of the season.
The report discloses that the Premiership title winner is on a shortlist of players that the Pittodrie side are looking at, and Scott Brown his praised his former Hoops teammate to Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass.
Whilst Aberdeen might be interested in signing the 22-year-old, it seems unlikely that at this moment in time, the Hoops will allow the player to leave.
The reason for that is the number of injuries that have affected the Celtic squad so far in the 2021/22 campaign.
With the number of injuries the Bhoys have had this season, Ange Postecoglou shouldn’t be sanction the exits of any first-team player over the next week, unless the offer is too good to refuse, and a loan deal doesn’t fit into that category.
Would Johnston want to move to Aberdeen? That remains to be seen. He could perhaps get more playing time at Pittodrie than at Celtic Park, where you have to think that he is fourth in the pecking order on the wing after Jota, Liel Abada and James Forrest.
However, Jota, Forrest and Abada have all had injury issues this season. That could come into Celtic’s thinking when it comes to the chances of letting Johnston depart before the window closes on the 31st of January.
Johnston has made 18 appearances for Celtic so far this season, so he can be considered a first-team regular to an extent. However, he made just five starts, and you have to think that he could make more starts for Aberdeen than he has for the Hoops, as the competition for places will be less fierce.
With the schedule Celtic face over the next few weeks, it wouldn’t make any sense to further weaken the first-team squad, even if Johnston doesn’t start for Celtic in every game.
Perhaps Celtic didn’t have so many injuries this season, then the club would let Johnston depart on loan. As it stands though, with Jota and James Forrest just back from long-term injuries, it would be too much of a risk to let of Celtic’s attacking players depart.
Of course, this could all change if Celtic decide to sign a winger over the next week. Then perhaps Johnston could be allowed to exit on loan. For now though, the Hoops shouldn’t be looking to let any of their first-team players leave, even the squad players.
