Since March 2022, the Ireland international has not competed for Celtic.
Brendan Rodgers, the manager, gave Mikey Johnston hope that he will play for Celtic after his goal for his country.
The Republic of Ireland international hasn’t featured for Celtic since March 2022, and a back injury derailed his chances of breaking through after spending the entire season on loan at Vitoria Guimaraes in Portugal.
However, the 24-year-old saw play for the first time this season on Monday as he started and scored in the Boys in Green’s 4-0 victory over Gibraltar.
“For me the biggest thing with Mikey was just about being fit,” stated Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, who gave the winger his Celtic debut in May 2017.
There may have been a rush to consider sending him out on loan at the conclusion of the window, but he was recovering from a severe back injury from which he had not trained.
He had to demonstrate to me that he could maintain his physical fitness and strength in order to increase his football fitness between the conclusion of the season and January. After that, we’ll see if we can get him some playing time since he is a fantastic player. “Thank goodness, he was able to accomplish that. He traveled with the national team and played for a few minutes, which is fantastic. We’ll see whether he gets to play between now and January. “However, he has daily opportunities to demonstrate his strength in training, and I’m hoping he’ll get some playing time.”
Marco Tilio, a summer acquisition, is another winger who has not yet appeared in a game this year. The 22-year-old Australian international is now fully healed from the injury he had when he signed with Melbourne City and traveled to Glasgow.
“It’s just time,” Aaron Rodgers stated prior to Sunday’s crucial Premiership showdown at Tynecastle against Hearts. He’s the first to confess that it’s been a very difficult adjustment for him. It has been difficult for him to train because of the game’s extreme intensity compared to his experience. “It’s never easy when you join a new team as a player and you wind up getting hurt almost the entire preseason and into September.
In the past three or four weeks, he has begun to settle in. I’m not in a huge hurry for Marco, but it will take him more time. As soon as he can demonstrate his abilities in training and during his stay here, he will give himself over to the squad. “He is adjusting, but it’s taking him a little longer because the game’s intensity is completely different from what he’s used to,” Yuki Kobayashi, a Japanese defender, is another player who is unlikely to start. “I only have eleven players,” Rodgers declared. “The squad is simply too large. That much is true. I therefore cannot fit every player, not even into a squad on a matchday.
However, he is unquestionably a very professional person. To be fair to Yuki, he would have taken a loan out before the window closed and only sustained an injury prior to leaving.
“However, he is training incredibly effectively; nothing seems amiss with him. Although he is working really hard and has a great mentality, we can only play so many center halves.
