Mikey Johnston has expressed his excitement over the potential return of Brendan Rodgers to Celtic.
Rodgers, who led Celtic to an Invincible Treble during his previous tenure and won a further four trophies, gave Johnston his debut at the age of 18 and often included him in significant matches.
Johnston, who spent last season on loan at Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes, is set to return to Celtic next month. By that time, Rodgers is expected to have resumed his role as manager, a prospect that Johnston views as a significant coup.
Johnston said: [SunSport]
“He gave me my debut and every player will love the guy who gave them their debut won’t they?
“But he’s a great manager and if he came back to Celtic he would be unreal.
“It’s a clean slate at Celtic as there will be a new manager, so I could be back there.
“It’s the club I’ve always supported, I’d like to give it another go.
“But we just have to wait and see what happens. Whatever I do next year I want to play every game.”
Johnston believes his time in Portugal has made him a better player and that he has added a lot to his game. He played in 25 league games and helped his side finish sixth, qualifying for the Europa Conference League.
“It was a tough year and it was a high level and I performed pretty well.
“I feel like I’ve learned so much in the year. When you play for Celtic, you’ve got the ball all the time and you’re attacking.
“My club, we had the ball a lot, but not always because there were four bigger teams, three in Champions League as well.
“So there were probably eight games where you were testing yourself against them when you didn’t have the ball as much and just, tactically, I learned so much.
“Obviously with Celtic we played sort of the same system a lot whereas we changed a lot in Portugal, depending on other teams so I learned a lot.
“When you’re playing at Celtic, you get a lot of 1v1s, a lot of touches, sometimes in Portugal you’re not in the game as much and you need to be more effective when you get it and be smart, win fouls.
“It’s a different style of football completely. You see it in how the referees are as well, it’s completely different.”
With a new manager coming in, who knows the winger well, he will have a fresh start at Celtic, and will have the chance to show the incoming manager why he should be at the club.
